Hippolyte Bayard
1801–1887 · France
Inventing, then staging.
Explore 4 works ↓
Hippolyte Bayard · 1839
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
The story
Bayard developed a direct-positive photographic process on paper in the context of the announcements of 1839. He photographed portraits, studios, gardens and streets while defending his place among the medium’s inventors. His Autoportrait en noyé turns a claim into visual fiction. This early work demonstrates that photography can tell a fabricated story, and that an appearance of evidence does not rule out play or protest.
Understanding the work
Read image and text together when both are available. The pose, setting and accompanying narrative test our tendency to confuse a photograph with an event that actually happened.
Key works and series
Autoportrait en noyé; portraits and views of Paris.
Sources & further exploration
A journey through images.
4 worksClick an image to enlarge it. Captions, collections and reuse conditions appear below each work. Captions describe the photographs; the source records retain catalogue titles and provide context.
Hippolyte Bayard · 1839
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Hippolyte Bayard · Early 1850s
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Gilman Collection, Purchase, William Talbott Hillman Foundation Gift, 2005
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
![[Classical Head] — Hippolyte Bayard](/assets/atlasimg-hippolyte-bayard-01.jpg)
Hippolyte Bayard · probably 1839
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2019
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
![[Classical Head in Profile] — Hippolyte Bayard](/assets/atlasimg-hippolyte-bayard-02.jpg)
Hippolyte Bayard · probably 1839
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Gift of Hans P. Kraus Jr., in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2019
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Works in collections.
1 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
