A very interesting 8,5x17cm French tissue of a workshop where stereoviews were made. The back has the inscription Fabrication de cadres photographiques, 7e série no. 1 and the name A. Aubenas, Verny. According to Denis Pellerin, the stereoview is manufactured by Alexis Gaudin in c.1860[1].
Alexis Gaudin (1816-1894) was one of the pioneers of stereo photography. He came from a family of five brothers, three of whom were engaged in photography[2-p.124]. Together with his brother Charles, he ran the company Alexis Gaudin et frère with branches in Paris and London. The company produced stereoviews and in 1856 it published a catalog of 1.500 titles containing both paper card stereoviews and glass stereoviews[2-p.126]. Gaudin was one of the drivers of the Stereoscopomania in the 1850s.
The image shows a vivid picture of a workshop where the positive prints were developed, dried and cut, before being glued in sheets. Four stereoviews are printed per sheet and hang to dry in the background. The image is clearly staged and shows a lot of stereo depth effect. The photo is probably made in Gaudin’s own workshop.
References
- Pellerin, Denis. La photographie stéréoscopique sous le second Empire, 1995, p.98
- Pellerin, Denis. Stereoscopy – The Dawn of 3D, 2021