Parisian bureaucrat by day and tireless inventor after hours, Hippolyte Bayard (French, 1801-1887) was one of the most important, if lesser-known, pioneers of photography. During his thirty-year career, he invented the direct positive process and several other photographic techniques on paper. This exhibition journeys back to the 19th century to unveil a collection of Bayard's delicately crafted photographs, offering an extraordinarily rare glimpse into his unique processes, subjects, and persistent curiosity. He brought an artistic sensitivity into capturing the first staged self-portraits and set precedents for photography as we know it today.
This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish. Esta exhibición se presenta en inglés y en español.
SELECTED WORKS
Events
{{event.eventWeekdayShortString.$t}}
{{event.eventMonthDayShortString.$t}}
{{event.eventYearShortString.$t}}
{{event.calendarInfo.calendar.calendarName.$t}}
{{event.shortTitle.$t}}{{event.eventTimeString.$t}}
Publication
Hippolyte Bayard and the Invention of Photography
Edited by Karen Hellman and Carolyn Peter
The first English-language volume about Hippolyte Bayard, one of the inventors of photography who helped transform the burgeoning medium into an art form.
Purchase this and other publications in the Getty Museum Store
Traces of History: Hippolyte Bayard’s Photographs of the 1848 Revolution
Getty Research Journal, vol. 15 Margaret Fields Denton
The Many Lives of the Getty Bayard Album
Getty Research Journal, vol. 15 Carolyn Peter
VIDEO
Hippolyte Bayard's Direct Positive Process
Watch to learn about one of the earliest photographic methods, invented by Hippolyte Bayard.
Exhibition Resources
Learn more about the exhibition.
To request a checklist of objects, please contact: photographs@getty.edu.
Information on Getty Museum works of art can be found through a
collection search
