Abel Briquet Explained

Alfred Briquet
Birth Name:Alfred Saint-Ange Briquet
Birth Date:30 December 1833
Birth Place:Paris, France
Death Place:Mexico
Death Date:1926 (aged 92-93)
Occupation:photographer

Alfred Saint-Ange Briquet (30 December 1833, Paris – 1926, Mexico) was a French pioneer of photography, particularly in Mexico.

Biography

Briquet became a photographer in Paris in 1854. He taught photography at École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, the prominent French military academy.[1]

He closed his studio in Paris in 1865, but it not certain when he started work in Mexico, however in 1876, he did receive a commission to record the construction of the Mexican National Railway (Ferrocarril Nacional Mexicano - FNM) line being built between Veracruz and Mexico City.[1] He gained the attention of President Porfirio Díaz and secured a number of commissions. He also published a series of photography books: Vistas Mexicanas, Tipos Mexicanos and Antiquedades Mexicanos.[1] Following the Mexican Revolution of 1910 he no longer received any government contracts.[1]

His photos appeared in several books, and albums among them we can mention "Mexico artístico y pintoresco" edited by Julio Michaud and "Mexico, Its Social Evolution" coordinated by the historian Justo Sierra.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Abel Briquet (1833-1926) and an early photograph of Lake Chapala? We stand corrected!. Sombrero Books. 7 January 2016. 6 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170706043629/http://sombrerobooks.com/?p=2585. dead.