(b La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne, 9 Jan 1818; d Paris, 1881). French photographer and sculptor. He originally worked as a sculptor, and he turned to portrait photography under the influence of the Munich photographer Franz Hanfstaengel. Adam-Salomon’s antique poses, making much use of light and shade to give painterly effects, were inspired by Classical sculpture and painting and incorporated expensive fabrics and settings. He also favoured heavy retouching of the negatives, for which he was criticized by some contemporaries. He was, however, much admired for the imposing character of many of his portraits (e.g. Portrait of a Man, c. 1865; see Berger and Levrault, no. 1). He continued his sculpture as well, producing portrait busts (many still extant), generally based on photographs. Subjects included Rossini and the poet Lamartine, as well as a monument in Les Invalides, Paris, to the Duke of Padua. Some of those hostile to photography, such as Lamartine, were persuaded to consider it as an art by the work of Adam-Salomon. He founded his studio in Paris in 1859, working on reproductions of works of art as well as portraits of the rich bourgeoisie, and he proposed working on a portrait gallery of European notables. He was made a member of the Société Française de Photographie in 1870 and received the Légion d’honneur the same year. He held exhibitions of his work in Paris in 1859, 1867 and 1869, in London in 1867 and in Boston, MA, in 1869. His style is typified by the late Self-portrait as Dr Faust, where he portrays himself in velvet robe, seated on a carved throne with his hand resting on a skull.

• Adam-Salomon, Antoine-Samuel
  • Photography, §II, 2: Portraiture