Alexandre [Drains], Albert Edouard (Studio)

Identity

Category

Person (Male)

Alternative name or descriptor

  • Photographie d’Art

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Status

  • Professional / Connected

Details

Life dates

Paris [F], 1855 - Nice [F], 1925  

Activity

1897 * - 1910 / Bruxelles, Place du Musée, 14
Predecessor: Alexandre [Drains] Veuve A. & Fils
Albert Edouard Drains, ° 2.3.1855; + 16.5.1925. Arrived at this address on 25.5.1897. Photograph dealer. Collotype, reproduction of paintings in the Royal Museums; in 1895/1896 and 1898, platinum prints reproducing drawings by Fernand Khnopff (see that name), retouched and signed by the latter. Renowned pictorialist: landscapes, seascapes, studies of military life, nudes, portraits of artists. Enlargements of negatives for the "Compagnie du Congo pour le commerce et l’industrie" in 1890. Gave a slide shown comprising 100 images at the "Cercle d'études photographiques et scientifiques de Bruxelles" on 17.11.1896, including his genre study "The Anatomy Lesson".
Views of the exhibition halls at the "Exposition Internationale et Coloniale" in Brussels - Tervueren, 1897, reproduced in collotype. Also in the context of the 1897 exhibition, Alexandre made 22 short films under the auspices of the "Société Optique Belge", founded in February 1897, making him one of the very first Belgian cinematographers. Member ABP from 15.10.1886. One of the two Belgian members of the Linked Ring, the English pictorialist group, 1893-1908, under the pseudonym "Admiral" (the other member being Hector Colard). Honorary member of the "Cercle d’Art Photographique l’Effort", 1901-1905.
1904 - 1908 Bruxelles, Montagne de la Cour, 79
"Photographer to Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians and of the Congo Free State. Collotype, photogravure. Reproduction of paintings in the Royal Museums" (Mertens, 1900).
1909 - 1914 Bruxelles, Rue Coudenberg, 56<09-10>, 56 bis or 70<11-14>
Also photograph dealer at this address. Still listed in the "Almanach de Bruxelles" in 1924.

Locations

1897 * - 1910 / Bruxelles, Place du Musée, 14
1904 - 1908 Bruxelles, Montagne de la Cour, 79
1909 - 1914 Bruxelles, Rue Coudenberg, 56<09-10>, 56 bis or 70<11-14>

Exhibitions

Brussels, 1897 (rapporteur); Brussels, 1898; Hamburg, 1898; Munich, 1898; Nancy, 1898 ("Nonnes"); Berlin, 1899; Leipzig, 1899 (nude); Brussels, 1902; Dresden, 1904 (from the Juhl collection); Saint Louis, 1904.
For Alexandre's prior exhibition record, see entry for Alexandre [Drains], Veuve A. & Fils.

Genres / subject matter

Techniques

Bibliography/Webography

DUJARDIN, Laetitia-Marie. Alexandre [Albert-Edouard Drains (1855-1925)], cas particulier de la photographie fin de siècle à Bruxelles. Approche sociologique et aperçu biographique d'une œuvre méconnue. Brussels, 2001-2002 (2 vols), vol. 1, (ii) + 95 + xxvi pp.; vol. 2 (illustrations), xxvii-cxxiii pp. Dissertation at the "Université Libre de Bruxelles".
TRICOT, Xavier. Fernand Khnopff : catalogue raisonné des estampes et des platinotypes rehaussés ; oeuvrecatalogus van de prenten en de gehoogde platinadrukken ; catalogue raisonné of the prints and the enhanced platinotypes. [Antwerp], Pandora, [2018], nos. 38-54.

Context

Affiliations

Affiliated entity

Association belge de Photographie

Type of affiliation

Member of

Dates of affiliation

1887 - 1914

Description of relationship

Management

Record source

DIRECTORY_1997#55

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation/revision

SFJ revised 1.2.2017 & 31.1.2018, partly based on information supplied by Pool Andries; SFJ revised 4.5.2018, 5.12.2018, 13.12.2018, 27.2.2019 & 30.1.2021; SFJ revised 6.10.2020 & 21.7.2024 based on information supplied by M. Demaeght; SFJ revised 30.7.2021; MD revised 3.6.2024 based on information supplied by Hubert Bovens

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Maintenance notes

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