French photographic constructions of Australia Paradis Primitif

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Abstract

Antoine Fauchery, a Parisian artist, writer and adventurer who is said to have been the inspiration for one of the central characters in Mürger's La Bohème, revisited Australia in 1857 to honour a promise given to the French Ministry of Public Instruction and Worship to supply written and photographic accounts of sites of interest in Australia, India and China.1His reputation in Australia is based on his short term photographic partnership with geologist Richard Daintree in 1858 during which time they issued instalments of the album Sun Pictures of Victoria.2 Almost a hundred years later Jacques Villeminot and his long-term wife and colleague Betty-Paule Villeminot began working together writing books and making films on Australia.3 The Villeminots' illustrated books include Boomerang, 1954; Paradis Primitif, 1959; Australie: Terre de Fortune, 1971; Australie Sauvage, 1975; and Au Commencement des temps: L'Australie, 1993.4 To date, the Villeminots have written fifteen lavishly illustrated books and made twenty films on Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)319-329
Number of pages11
JournalHistory of Photography
Volume21
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1997
Externally publishedYes

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