Steamer in Lake Thun, Switzerland

1855·Albumen print·47.6 × 39 cm (18 3/4 × 15 3/8 in.)

<p>Adolphe Braun first took up photography as an aid in his burgeoning wallpaper and textile design business, concentrating on the floral and other still–life compositions that brought him international acclaim. Around 1859 he began to focus on making large–format, panoramic, and stereoscopic views of locales in Switzerland and Germany, which he marketed to the emerging tourist audience. Within about 10 years he had amassed a catalogue of around 6,000 stereoscopic views and more than 500 panoramas, which were sold near tourist destinations and in curio shops. In this image of Lake Thun, bordering Interlaken, Switzerland, Braun portrayed a snaking waterway framed by mountains on either side, an image<br>modeled on picturesque painted landscapes.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1855
Medium: Albumen print
Dimensions: 47.6 × 39 cm (18 3/4 × 15 3/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Adolphe Braun

Artist

Adolphe Braun

Printmaking

Adolphe Braun was a French photographer and publisher who pioneered large-scale color photography and chromolithographic reproduction in the mid-nineteenth century. He established one of Europe's most productive photographic studios in Dornach, Alsace, producing thousands of images ranging from botanical studies to architectural documentation and fine art reproductions. His innovations in color separation and printing techniques made museum collections and masterworks accessible to a broad audience, fundamentally reshaping how art and natural specimens were disseminated and studied.

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