Lot 616: ALPHONSE POITEVIN (1819-1882)

ALPHONSE POITEVIN (1819-1882)
Man drinking (Reproduction of an engraving), 1855
photolithograph
printed signature, date and medium 'héliographie' (in the margin); accompanied by the original copper plate from which the image was struck
3½ x 2 7/8in. (8.7 x 7.3cm.)

George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, Particulars, 1983

Particulars, pl. 59, p. 21

The Estate of Alphonse Poitevin;
with Alain Paviot, Paris; acquired c. 1981

Alphonse Poitevin was a French chemist, photographer and civil engineer who discovered the light sensitive properties of bichromated gelatin and invented both the photolithography and collotype processes. Poitevin's work is extraordinarily rare - all the more so here because lot 82 also includes the original copper plate from which the image was struck.