The advent of the Kodak camera in 1888 made photography accessible to amateurs as well as to professionals. Artists were not immune to its allure, and many began experimenting with the camera as a means of observing the world and capturing their own images of it.
Snapshot investigates seven Post-Impressionist painters and printmakers: Pierre Bonnard, George Hendrik Breitner, Maurice Denis, Henri Evenepoel, Henri Riviere, Felix Vallotton and Edouard Vuillard. Although celebrated for their works on canvas and paper, these artists also made many personal and informal snapshots. Depicting interiors, city streets, nudes, and portraits, these photographs were kept private and never exhibited. As a result, most have never been seen by the public.
Juxtaposing personal photographs with related paintings and prints by these Post-Impressionist artists, Snapshot offers a new perspective on early photography and on the synthesis of painting, printmaking, and photography at the end of the nineteenth century.
Edited by Elizabeth W. Easton
With contributions by Clement Cheroux, Michel Frizot, Todd Gustavson, Francçoise Heilbrun, Ellen W. Lee, Anne McCauley,Saskia Ooms, Katia Poletti, Eliza Rathbone and Hans Rooseboom.