Alphonse Justin Liébert (30 November 1826,

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

- 18 June 1913,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French photographer.

Biography

Initially devoted to a career in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, he was wounded at the

Battle of Vuelta de Obligado The Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on 20 November 1845, in the waters of the Paraná River, on its right bank and in the north of the province of Buenos Aires (Argentina), in a bend where the river narrows and turns, known as Vuelta de ...

(1845), in Argentina. He had always been interested in photography, so he took it as an opportunity to embark on a new career. Around 1853, probably attracted by the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

, he had established himself as a photographer in California. He returned to France in 1863 and set up a studio in Paris. Between then and 1906, he would relocate his studio at least four times. In 1866, he married Marie-Louise Peuple, a trader in silks. They had three children; Marie-Louise, apparently born out of wedlock, Gaston Ernest, a career diplomat, and Georges Auguste (1876-1947), who also became a photographer. In 1867, he photographed

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

with his mistress,

Adah Isaacs Menken Adah Isaacs Menken (June 15, 1835August 10, 1868) was an American actress, painter and poet, and was the highest earning actress of her time.Palmer, Pamela Lynn"Adah Isaacs Menken" ''Handbook of Texas Online,'' published by the Texas State Histo ...

. Later that year, following a small scandal, Dumas sued him,, demanding that the pictures be withdrawn from sale. His suit was originally dismissed, but accepted on appeal. The photographs were bought back and their future sale prohibited. He was one of the few photographers to remain in Paris during the Commune; documenting the buildings destroyed during the

Bloody Week The ''Semaine sanglante'' ("") was a weeklong battle in Paris from 21 to 28 May 1871, during which the French Army recaptured the city from the Paris Commune. This was the final battle of the Paris Commune. Following the Treaty of Frankfur ...

, and the barricades built by the

Communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards we ...

. In addition, he was the only one to photograph the ruins in the inner suburbs, caused by Prussian bombardments. In 1872, he published these pictures in a double album called ''Les ruines de Paris et de ses environs. 1870 - 1871. Cent photographies''. In 1873, he became a member of the

Société française de photographie The Société française de photographie (SFP) is an association, founded on 15 November 1854, devoted to the history of photography. It has a large collection of photographs and old cameras. Among the founding members were Olympe Aguado, Hippoly ...

. In 1897, together with his son, Georges, he founded "A. Liébert et Cie", devoted to the manufacture and distribution of silver

celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common present-day ...

photographic paper. Their company declared bankruptcy in 1906.''

L'Écho de Paris ''L'Écho de Paris'' () was a daily newspaper in Paris from 1884 to 1944. The paper's editorial stance was initially conservative and nationalistic, but it later became close to the French Social Party. Its writers included Octave Mirbeau, Hen ...

'', 22 August 1906, pg.6. He died in 1913, and was interred at the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

Writings

* Alphonse Liébert, ''La photographie en Amérique'', Paris, Leiber, 1864
Online
@

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebert, Alphonse 1826 births 1913 deaths French portrait photographers People from Tournai