Albert Levy

From L'Architecture Americaine. 1885. 5th Avenue at the 54th Street, New York. Built by William H. Vanderbilt's for his daughter. Architect C.B. Atwood.

Albert Levy is a French photographer active in the 1870s-1890s. He is a pioneer on architectural photography that focused his work in Europe and the United States.

He developed a catalogue with 2500 titles that can be found in the Gallica web project^[1] of Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) as well as in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. His catalogue covers France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. He was one of the first photographers to have a study at both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, in Paris and New York. His main contribution to history documentation is the 1870s "Albert Levy's architectural photographic Series" that consists of albums with 30-40 albumen photos of the Architecture of the United States, with a size of 20x24 cm approximately. There are around 36 series.

Biography

Albert Levy was born in France in 1847 as the 1880s United States Federal Census demonstrates, showing that he was 33 years old in 1880. The New York Passengers list 1820–1957 indicates that he arrived to the United States in 1876 and his occupation was photographer.^[2] His parents were born in France.^[3] In 1880's United States Federal Census he was registered as bookseller.

Occupation

There are indications that Albert Levy was a photographer who also worked variously as bookseller,^[3] editor^[4] and manufacturer.^[5] His main occupation was photographer.^[2] active between 1870s-1890s^[6] He was also working in France in 1876 and in the United States in 1880s-1890s.^[7] He was one of the few photographers to have two studios at the same time in America and Europe. Actually, he had several studios:

• 77 University Place, New York
• 4 Bond Street, New York in 1880^[3]
• 34½ Pine Street, New York in 1887^[4]
• 19 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, Paris^[4]
• 22 janvier 1901, A. Lévy, 4 av. Pinel, Asnières^[4]

Apart from photographer and bookseller, he was also pioneer in the manufacture of the gelatin dry plates in 1878^[5] Because of the work he developed he was an early competitor of George Eastman.^[5][8]

Finally, he was an editor whose catalogue is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France(BnF) and in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library.

Photography

Montgomery Building, Boston by Cummings and Sears

The main occupation of Albert Levy was Architectural photography. He developed most of his work in the 1870s. He started working in Europe and then he move to the United States when he was 33 years old, but he still worked in Europe. His catalogue of 1887 (with 2500 titles) demonstrates that he did architectural photography in France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. The took albumen photographies that collected with the following standards:

• Albumen 20x24 cm
• Cardboard 29x41 cm
• Albums with 30-40 photos each

He focused his work on the new buildings of important architects like:

• Herter Brothers - Twin Houses, New York
• Richard Morris Hunt - William Kissam Vanderbilt Residence, New York
• George Browne Post - Cornelius Vanderbilt Residence, New York
• Henry Hobson Richardson - Oakes Ames Memorial Library, North Easton, Massachusetts
• Calvert Vaux - Samuel J. Tilden Residence, New York
• Charles B. Atwood - Dr. Stewart Webb and H. McKinley Twombly residences, New York (originally for William Henry Vanderbilt)
• C. Pfeifer - The Berkshires, New York
• E. H. Kendall - Odgen Goelet residence, New York
• R.H.Robertson
• Peabody and Stearns
• Viollet le Duc
• William Le Baron Jenney
• Guerinot

Important owners of the buildings he took photos are William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Kissam Vanderbilt, Samuel J. Tilden, Oliver Ames, John Harjés.

His most important contribution to history consists on the "Albert Levy's Architectural photographic series" that are a collection of at least^[9] 36 albums with 30-40 albumen prints of the architecture of the United States in the 1870s. In these series there are photos of Washington, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Albany, Chicago, Cleveland, Brooklyn N.Y., Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit and Milwaukee among others. He used to create the series depending on the type of buildings been photographed. Some of the series are^[10][11][12]:

• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: First Series, Private City Dwellings.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Second Series, Country Dwellings.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Third series, French Gothic and Renaissance, Civil and Domestic Architecture, New York
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Fifth Series, Messrs. Vanderbilt's Mansions
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Ninth Series, Street Fronts.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Tenth Series, Sea Shore Cottages and Country Houses
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Twelfth Series, Modern Street Architecture of Berlin, Street Fronts and Apartment Houses.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Sixteenth Series, American Private City Dwellings
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-First Series, Street Fronts, Stores, Office Buildings, Etc.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Third series, American City and Country Residences, etc., New York.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Fifth Series, Sea Shore Cottages And Country Houses, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Maine
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Sixth Series, Sea-Shore Cottages, Etc., Newport, R.I., And Long Branch, N.J

This unique archive of the Architecture of the United States in the 19th century was lately edited by Andre, Daly fils et Cie. (French editors specialized in Architecture) to collect the best of the Albert Levy's architectural series in the album "L'Architecture Americaine" and show it in Europe. This collection consists of 3 series of albums:

• 1st Series: Public Buildings
• 2nd Series: Private Urban Residences
• 3rd Series: Suburban Homes

Each series has 36 photos. All of them are described in the book "American Victorian Architecture".^[13]

Artwork Holders

The main holders of his photos are:

• Architektur Sammlung of the Technische Hochschule in Munich
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
• Bibliothèque nationale de France(BnF)
• Boston Public Library
• Centre Canadien d'Architecture
• George Eastman House
• Jean Paul Getty Museum
• Library of Congress of the United States
• Metropolitan Museum
• Ministère de Culture France
• Santa Barbara Museum of Art
• University of Louisville
• University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Samples

Some examples of his work can be found at the HALIC old link or HALIC new link (Historical Architecture and Landscape Image Collection) of the Art Institute of Chicago. Browse for "Levy".

External links

• Photos by Albert Levy at the HALIC archive of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Images of "L'architecture americaine" 1886
• Scans of Albert Levy's catalogue at the Biliotheque Nacionale de France (BnF)

References

1. ^ Gallica2.bnf.fr
2. ^ ^{a b} New York Passengers list 1820–1957
3. ^ ^{a b c} 1880's United States Federal Census
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Bibliothèque nationale de France(BnF)
5. ^ ^{a b c} Photography and the American Scene. A social history (1839–1889) by Robert Taft
6. ^ "International guide to the nineteenth century photographers and their works", by Gary Edward. (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1988). In this book he is referenced as "American photographer"
7. ^ George Eastman House
8. ^ Eastman-Butterfield Collection
9. ^ The Art Institute of Chicago owns the 36th series
10. ^ Centre Canadien d'Architecture
11. ^ Boston Public Library
12. ^ Art Institute of Chicago
13. ^ "American Victorian Architecture", by Arnold Lewis and Keith Morgan. Dover publications, 1975