The French writer Émile Zola, father of the Rougon-Macquart series of novels and leader of the naturalist literary movement, is renowned across the world as the conscience of humanity for his manifesto J’accuse…! published during the Dreyfus affair. His activities as an amateur photographer are less well known to the general public.
On the fringes of his literary work, in the later years (from 1894 to 1902), Émile Zola practiced photography as an enlightened amateur. Although he knew personally some of the great nineteenth century photographer (Nadar, Carjat, Pierre Petit), he discovered the practice of the medium during summer holidays in Royan in 1888. But it wasn’t until some years later that he threw himself wholeheartedly into what was to become for him a real passion. He bought several cameras and had at least three darkrooms installed in different residences. He photographed family life, his second focus, and also his friends, his dogs, bike rides, his travels abroad and his exile in England, and even the Universal Exhibition of 1900.
A rare selection from the former collection of his grandson, Doctor François Émile-Zola, has been used in museum exhibitions and for the publication of a reference book Zola Photographe (Denoël, Paris, 1979, re-published by Hoëbeke in 1990). On December 4th the auction house Artcurial will offer for sale by auction this exceptional photographic collection. It contains:
- Two exceptional daguerreotypes of Émile Zola as a child;
- Seven albums assembled by the writer himself, of which the most magnificent example was given to Jeanne, the mother of his children, as a tribute to them;
- Important groups of prints of the period by Émile Zola covering all the years of his photographic practice;
- Many portraits of Émile Zola by the great studios of the period;
- Many self=portraits of the writer;
- Collections of glass plate negatives;
- Cameras and laboratory coats.
Sale by auction Emile Zola
Monday 4th December 2017 – 7.00pm
Artcurial
7 Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées Marcel-Dassault
75008 Paris
France
