Portrait photograph of victor hugo published in the widely distributed serial publication entitled galerie contemporaine, littéraire, artistique. Issued in parts from 1876 to 1884 by the firm of goupil & cie, the series contained 241 portraits of leading figures from the worlds of art, literature, music, science, and politics by a host of parisian photographers. The illustrations were printed as woodburytypes–a photomechanical process that reproduced the continuous tones of photography but did so with pigmented gelatin molded to a varying thickness. The speed and economy with which woodburytypes could be printed, as well as their permanence (unlike traditional photographic processes that were subject to fading), made them a highly practical substitute for albumen silver prints in book publication or other situations where mass production was desirable. Date: 1876.
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