4040 - Galerie Contemporaine

Galerie Contemporaine Photographer: Étienne Carjat (1828–1906). Charles Baudelaire. ca. 1863. Woodburytype, printed in 1877, mounted on board. 23.2 x 18.2 cm (mount 34.2 x 25 cm). Printed upper margin: “GALERIE CONTEMPORAINE”; below the image: “126, boul. Magenta. – Paris," "Phot. Goupil et Cie." and "Cliché Carjat et Cie."; titled "CH. BAUDELAIRE" and captioned "Born in Paris in 1821, died in 1867." Carjat photographed Baudelaire on several occasions, but this closely framed 1863 portrait became the poet’s canonical photographic image. Baudelaire praised the result in a letter to Carjat dated October 6, 1863. Published nine years after the poet’s death in Goupil’s *Galerie contemporaine, littéraire, artistique*, it introduced this intensely direct portrait to a broad public among the series’ leading literary, artistic, and political figures. – Sheet with very faint overall toning and minor edge wear; a few small surface scuff marks in the image; otherwise, a strong, well-preserved print. Lit.: *Galerie contemporaine, littéraire, artistique*. Vol. 3, No. 1. Paris: Ludovic Baschet, 1878, n.p.