Félix-Jacques Moulin
Encyclopedia
Félix-Jacques Antoine Moulin (March 27, 1802–December 12, 1875) was a French
photographer.
In 1849, Moulin opened a photographer's shop at 31 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre and started producing daguerreotype
s of young girls aged 14 to 16. In 1851, Moulin's work was confiscated, and he was sentenced to one month of imprisonment for the "obscene" character of his works, "so obscene that even to pronounce the titles (...) would be to commit an indecency" according to the court archives http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=19&viewMode=0&item=1997.382.46.
After his release, Moulin continued his activities more discreetly. He taught photography, sold equipment, and had a backdoor made to his shop to dodge further legal problems. His works gained esteem from critics.
In 1856, Moulin made a photographic trip to Algeria
, with over one tonne of equipment, and backed by the government which gave him access to the facilities of the colonial authorities. There, he met technical difficulties due to variations in humidity, work in the open, and the quality of water, but managed nonetheless to extensively document the French colonies in Northern Africa. He came back in 1858 with hundreds of photographs of landscapes, cities, archeologic surveys and portraits of inhabitants, and published 300 of them as L'Algérie photographiée, a three-volume in folio work. These documents became official brochures of the colonial rule of Napoléon III, to whom the work was dedicated http://expositions.bnf.fr/napol/grand/057.htm. They toured Europe in several expositions.
Moulin retired in 1862 and died in 1875.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
photographer.
In 1849, Moulin opened a photographer's shop at 31 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre and started producing daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
s of young girls aged 14 to 16. In 1851, Moulin's work was confiscated, and he was sentenced to one month of imprisonment for the "obscene" character of his works, "so obscene that even to pronounce the titles (...) would be to commit an indecency" according to the court archives http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=19&viewMode=0&item=1997.382.46.
After his release, Moulin continued his activities more discreetly. He taught photography, sold equipment, and had a backdoor made to his shop to dodge further legal problems. His works gained esteem from critics.
In 1856, Moulin made a photographic trip to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, with over one tonne of equipment, and backed by the government which gave him access to the facilities of the colonial authorities. There, he met technical difficulties due to variations in humidity, work in the open, and the quality of water, but managed nonetheless to extensively document the French colonies in Northern Africa. He came back in 1858 with hundreds of photographs of landscapes, cities, archeologic surveys and portraits of inhabitants, and published 300 of them as L'Algérie photographiée, a three-volume in folio work. These documents became official brochures of the colonial rule of Napoléon III, to whom the work was dedicated http://expositions.bnf.fr/napol/grand/057.htm. They toured Europe in several expositions.
Moulin retired in 1862 and died in 1875.