Heritage lovers necessarily know Félix Thiollier, who took some very beautiful photos of the Loire.
“Coming from a bourgeois family from Saint-Étienne, he is considered the master of landscape photography in the second half of the 19th century.e century,” explains Me Agnès Carlier, auctioneer at the Hôtel des Ventes du Marais, who produced the catalog for this sale; remarkably illustrated catalog.
So many clichés
From 1860, Félix Thiollier traveled the region and fixed his camera on this territory which held no secrets for him. The Loire and Forez of course, but also the Haute-Loire…
“He was passionate about religious, feudal and civil architecture and Romanesque art,” continues Me Carlier. This is how he took his first photographs, in 1858, including five views of the Bâtie d’Urfé reproduced in the Monograph of 1886. His photos are so numerous that he published a book, The picturesque and monumental Forezpublished in two volumes with 980 illustrations.
A great collector of paintings, Félix Thiollier became friends with the painter François-Auguste Ravier. From that moment on, his life was divided between Saint-Étienne and the Forez plain, where he bought a hunting lodge in the middle of the ponds at Précivert before acquiring the commandery of Verrières overlooking the plain, where he set up his family in the summer months and receives his artist friends there.
Photos that are part of our heritage
The prints presented during this auction are now part of our heritage. They come directly from the descendants of Félix Thiollier’s family. The photographs are vintage prints, most of them printed on baryta paper. Some photos are located on the back, marked by the hand of Emma Thiollier. They will be awarded, some individually, others in batches.
A large part of this collection gives pride of place to photos taken in the Loire or Haute-Loire. We see, pell-mell, a cow herder at Mezenc; the banks of the Loire; the sheep fair in Les Estables; lacemakers in Brives-Charensac; the Place Chavanelle market in Saint-Étienne; military maneuvers in Saint-Germain-Laval; the cloister of Charlieu or a peasant scene in Les Estables.
But Félix Thiollier did not stop at the borders of Loire and Haute-Loire. He traveled throughout France before receiving a silver medal in 1900 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris as a reward for his illustrated publications.
An exhibition, Wednesday June 19
Thus, beyond the regional photos which will be presented on Thursday, the Marais auction house will distribute numerous photos from other French regions, particularly Brittany. Little nuggets from another time that tell the daily life of these men and women, farmers, miners and sailors.
Public exhibition this Wednesday, June 19, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Marais Auction House in Saint-Etienne. Auction on Thursday June 20 at 2 p.m. Live sales on the interencheres-live website and on drouot.com. All photos are available online at interencheres.com/42
