Bisson freres: Two pioneers of photography.

摘要

This dissertation examines the photographic activities of Louis-Auguste Bisson (1814-1876) and Auguste-Rosalie Bisson (1826-1900), the Bisson freres.; The main thrust of this research was to discover and digest primary sources, uncover as many unpublished Bisson photographs as possible and to reconstruct a historical account of their careers in photography. By probing primary sources for biographical and historical information I was able to build a solid foundation of facts upon which I later hope to analyze their photography. In order to restrict this work to a manageable length whole areas of Bisson photography, the prescient "machine aesthetic" railroad imagaery, the Bisson nudes, and the earthquake scenes for example, have been saved for a future monograph.; For the present I offer this dissertation more as a revelation of some of the grand and diverse panorama of the art and activity of the Bisson brothers, rather than any attempt at a definitive statement.