iLegion of HonorLincoln Park, Outer Richmond
Eternal Paris: Photographing the City of Light
Nearly 50 photographs from the Achenbach collection, many never shown, from Baldus to Atget and Brassaï, tracing how the camera built the myth of modern Paris.
More in San Francisco
The museum's lead picture for this show is a small print from about 1900 by Louis-Gabriel Loppé: the Eiffel Tower, with the Great Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel, standing beside it. Pictures like this, the museum argues, are where the Paris in your head came from.
There are nearly 50 photographs in Gallery 22, all from the Legion's own Achenbach collection and many never shown before. They run from Édouard Baldus's 1858 album views of the Louvre and the Bourse, through Louis-Émile Durandelle recording Garnier's Opéra as it went up and the ruins of the 1871 Commune, to Eugène Atget's streets and Brassaï. The Legion is itself a 1924 copy of a Paris palace, so this is Paris photographed, then hung inside a replica of Paris.
No critic had reviewed it when this was written. It is one gallery, aimed at Francophiles and early-photography fans, and it's included in general admission until 4 April 2027.
Editor's pick
A small print from about 1900 shows the Eiffel Tower with a giant Ferris wheel beside it. Nearly 50 photographs from the Legion's own collection, Baldus to Atget and Brassaï, hung inside a building copied from a Paris palace.
Look for
Loppé's Eiffel Tower and Great Wheel
Look for the Eiffel Tower around 1900 with the Great Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel, beside it, in a print only about 18 cm wide.
Durandelle's Opéra sculpture
Ornamental sculpture for Charles Garnier's new Opéra, photographed while the building went up and published in the commemorative volumes after it opened in 1875.
Baldus's Louvre and Tuileries
An 1858 view of the Louvre and the Tuileries Palace, which was burned during the 1871 Commune and later demolished.
Gérôme in his studio
The painter Jean-Léon Gérôme photographed in his own studio by the Goupil firm, Paris as a center of artistic life.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want paintings: this is one gallery of nearly 50 early photographs of Paris.
Also at Legion of Honor
On now nearby
Image credits
5
- Eternal Paris: Photographing the City of LightFine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Photograph by Randy Dodson
- Rex RayCourtesy of Minnesota Street Project
- 20 Years - Anniversary ExhibitionCourtesy of Minnesota Street Project
- Isadora Gullov-Singh: Traces We HoldCourtesy of Minnesota Street Project
- Legion of HonorJCruzTheTruth / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0