Paris Photo also serves as an opportunity for Paris auction houses to mount their own photo fest. Sales taking place during early November to coincide with the event at the Grand Palais include dedicated auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and various firms at Drouot. Like the fair itself, the material on offer will range from contemporary works by living photographers through to pieces by some of the earliest pioneers.
An image from the dawn of photography showing one of the most famous Parisian landmarks will be a highlight at Sotheby’s 105-lot offering on November 10. This 1840 daguerreotype of the façade of Notre Dame is the work of Vincent Chevalier, one of the French photo pioneers.
An optical engineer from a family of opticians, Chevalier was responsible for introducing Louis Daguerre to Nicéphore Niepce. An early proponent of the daguerreotpye process, Chevalier made a number of remarkable early studies of Parisian monuments, of which this is one.