Decor and decorum at the "Temple of Photography"

Edwards, Steve (2014) Decor and decorum at the "Temple of Photography". In: Arnold, D. (ed.) Interdisciplinary Encounters: Hidden and Visible Explorations of the Work of Adrian Rifkin. London, UK and New York, U.S.: IB Tauris, pp. 73-105. ISBN 9781780767024.

Abstract

In 1851 the photographer Antoine Claudet opened the studio at 107 regent Street, which became known as the 'Temple of Photography'. Claudet employed the architects barry and Banks to remodel the Nash building in the Renaissance style and the artist (august) Hervieu to paint extensive decorative schemes depicting the rise of photography.Only months after Claudet's death in 1867 a fire destroyed his 'temple' and no visual records have come to light. Paying attention to written records of the decorations in English and French this chapter reconstructs Claudet's ideological presentation of photography. The first section of the essay entails a detailed account of the space and images, paying particular attention to contradictions and anomalies in the reports. The second part provides a reading of the blindspots of 19th century liberalism. Drawing on Adrian Rifkin's essay on French Taste and the reform of English artisan culture ("Success Disavowed: the Schools of Design in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Britain (An Allegory)' from 1988), my chapter examines the way one photographer negotiated the relations and contradictions between art and industry in French and English taste.

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