The Crowd
Robert Demachy
French, 1859–1936
1910
An oil‑pigment photograph in which Robert Demachy softens and models a crowded street scene to convey mood and composition like a painting rather than a documentary record.
From a high viewpoint, the image pulls you into a swirling mass of hats, heads, and bent shoulders rendered in velvety, grainy tones where faces and details dissolve into atmospheric movement.
A striking example of pictorialism, it demonstrates how hand‑manipulated oil‑pigment printing helped early 20th‑century photographers argue for photography as fine art by privileging tonal, painterly effects over literal realism.
Medium
Oil pigment print
Dimensions
6 1/4 × 8 13/16" (15.9 × 22.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
Accession
445.2004
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
