Printed: 2024-04-25
Ghémar Frères
Identity
Category
Partnership
Alternative name or descriptor
- Ghémar Frères
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Status
- Professional
Details
Life dates
Activity
1859 * - 1894 / Bruxelles, Rue de l'Ecuyer, 27<59-90> renumbered 31<91-94>
Predecessor: Ghémar Louis Successor: Géruzet Frères [1]
The most prominent studio in Brussels during the 1860s, its opening on 1.10.1859 celebrated with a party. Ghémar made the most of the commercial opportunities offered by the CV. "Photographers to the King". Entrance through the carriage door of no. 27. Louis Joseph Ghémar formed a partnership with his half-brother Léon Louis Auverleaux (see that name) and retained the same company name after his brother’s departure.
In 1862, Ghémar made portraits of the 80 participants at the "Banquet des Misérables" in honour of Victor Hugo. In 1863, views of the Fine Arts exhibition in Brussels. In 1864 he photographed the ascension of Nadar’s balloon the "Géant" in Brussels. He was elected to membership of the "Société Française de Photographie" ("Gueymard") on 3.6.1864. In 1865 he photographed the funeral of King Léopold I and published an album containing 3 portraits and 10 or 11 redrawn views. About 1870, he published a series of photographs of the River Senne before it was vaulted over, commissioned by the Belgian Public Works Company. An art lover and entrepreneur, he opened a gallery selling objets d’art in Rue du Persil (see entry "Ghémar, L. or Frères<71-76>"). His own collection was dispersed at a public auction in Brussels on 9.4.1877 and the following days (419 lots, including 97 paintings).
Ghémar is buried in Laeken cemetery under an imposing monument designed by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824 - 1887). On the plinth, he is described as an "artiste dessinateur" [graphic artist]. After his death, the company kept its name "Ghémar Frères" until 1894 (see also Bulcke; Reifferscheid & Sophie; Indenklef & Reifferscheid; Indenklef; De Kuyper; De Heusch G., Hoyaux & Cie). In 1894 the negatives were acquired by Géruzet Frères (i.e. Alfred).
1862 * Bruxelles - Saint-Gilles, Chaussée de Charleroi, 45 or 59
Ghémar Frères' "establishment for industrial photography", opened with much pomp on 27.9.1862. "Messrs Ghémar Frères gathered hundreds of guests belonging to all classes of society. The festivities consisted of a succession of entertainments, the quasi-official programme of which had been posted on the walls of the capital. The grotesque mingled with folly, the serious ended up commingling with the comic" (Journal de la Belgique, 30.9.1862).
1867 * Ostende
Studio operating during the summer season. According to Norbert Hostyn, the studio was a specially erected wooden structure on the corner of Avenue Van Iseghem and Rue Louise.
Predecessor: Ghémar Louis Successor: Géruzet Frères [1]
The most prominent studio in Brussels during the 1860s, its opening on 1.10.1859 celebrated with a party. Ghémar made the most of the commercial opportunities offered by the CV. "Photographers to the King". Entrance through the carriage door of no. 27. Louis Joseph Ghémar formed a partnership with his half-brother Léon Louis Auverleaux (see that name) and retained the same company name after his brother’s departure.
In 1862, Ghémar made portraits of the 80 participants at the "Banquet des Misérables" in honour of Victor Hugo. In 1863, views of the Fine Arts exhibition in Brussels. In 1864 he photographed the ascension of Nadar’s balloon the "Géant" in Brussels. He was elected to membership of the "Société Française de Photographie" ("Gueymard") on 3.6.1864. In 1865 he photographed the funeral of King Léopold I and published an album containing 3 portraits and 10 or 11 redrawn views. About 1870, he published a series of photographs of the River Senne before it was vaulted over, commissioned by the Belgian Public Works Company. An art lover and entrepreneur, he opened a gallery selling objets d’art in Rue du Persil (see entry "Ghémar, L. or Frères<71-76>"). His own collection was dispersed at a public auction in Brussels on 9.4.1877 and the following days (419 lots, including 97 paintings).
Ghémar is buried in Laeken cemetery under an imposing monument designed by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824 - 1887). On the plinth, he is described as an "artiste dessinateur" [graphic artist]. After his death, the company kept its name "Ghémar Frères" until 1894 (see also Bulcke; Reifferscheid & Sophie; Indenklef & Reifferscheid; Indenklef; De Kuyper; De Heusch G., Hoyaux & Cie). In 1894 the negatives were acquired by Géruzet Frères (i.e. Alfred).
1862 * Bruxelles - Saint-Gilles, Chaussée de Charleroi, 45 or 59
Ghémar Frères' "establishment for industrial photography", opened with much pomp on 27.9.1862. "Messrs Ghémar Frères gathered hundreds of guests belonging to all classes of society. The festivities consisted of a succession of entertainments, the quasi-official programme of which had been posted on the walls of the capital. The grotesque mingled with folly, the serious ended up commingling with the comic" (Journal de la Belgique, 30.9.1862).
1867 * Ostende
Studio operating during the summer season. According to Norbert Hostyn, the studio was a specially erected wooden structure on the corner of Avenue Van Iseghem and Rue Louise.
Locations
1859 * - 1894 / Bruxelles, Rue de l'Ecuyer, 27<59-90> renumbered 31<91-94>
1862 * Bruxelles - Saint-Gilles, Chaussée de Charleroi, 45 or 59
1867 * Ostende
1862 * Bruxelles - Saint-Gilles, Chaussée de Charleroi, 45 or 59
1867 * Ostende
Exhibitions
Amsterdam, 1860; Brussels, 1861; London, 1862; Paris, 1867; Brussels, 1880.
Genres / subject matter
Techniques
Bibliography/Webography
ABEELS, Gustave. "Louis Ghémar. Een machtig fotograaf, die tot de verbeelding spreekt en bewondering opwekt..." Misset Foto Magazine, vol. 1, n° 2, 1980, pp. 8-10.
VANDEVELDE, Wilfried. "Louis Ghémar Frères", Photohistorisch Tijdschrift, vol. 9, 1986, pp. 14-18.
Louis Ghémar 1819-1873, Photographe du Roi. Ieper, Stedelijk Museum, 1992, 9 + (vii) pp.
DEWILDE, Jan. De salon van Louis Ghémar. Een fotoreportage van de Algemene Tentoonstelling van Schone Kunsten te Brussel in 1863. Ieper, 1996, 46 pp.
CLAES, Marie-Christine & ROMMELAERE, Catherine. "L'album Ghémar des funérailles de Léopold Ier (1866) : histoire de l'édition d'un reportage « photographique »", Bulletin de l'Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique, n° 31, 2004-2005, pp. 159-204.
WANSON, Isabelle. "Louis Ghémar, Assainissement de la Senne" in Cent trésors de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels, 2005, pp. 198-199.
TERLINCK, Anne. "Louis Joseph Ghémar, Henriette, Rosalie et Sophie Ghémar, Lannoy – Ath – Bruxelles (1819-1889)", Annales du Cercle royal d'histoire et d'archéologie d'Ath et de la région et musées athois, vol. 62, 2010, pp. 135-197.
VAN DEN ENDE, Eliane. "Louis Ghémar, les méandres de sa vie" in Zwanze, fantaisie & burlesque de Louis Ghémar à James Ensor, Namur, Musée Félicien Rops, 2018, pp. 17-94.
VANDEVELDE, Wilfried. "Louis Ghémar Frères", Photohistorisch Tijdschrift, vol. 9, 1986, pp. 14-18.
Louis Ghémar 1819-1873, Photographe du Roi. Ieper, Stedelijk Museum, 1992, 9 + (vii) pp.
DEWILDE, Jan. De salon van Louis Ghémar. Een fotoreportage van de Algemene Tentoonstelling van Schone Kunsten te Brussel in 1863. Ieper, 1996, 46 pp.
CLAES, Marie-Christine & ROMMELAERE, Catherine. "L'album Ghémar des funérailles de Léopold Ier (1866) : histoire de l'édition d'un reportage « photographique »", Bulletin de l'Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique, n° 31, 2004-2005, pp. 159-204.
WANSON, Isabelle. "Louis Ghémar, Assainissement de la Senne" in Cent trésors de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels, 2005, pp. 198-199.
TERLINCK, Anne. "Louis Joseph Ghémar, Henriette, Rosalie et Sophie Ghémar, Lannoy – Ath – Bruxelles (1819-1889)", Annales du Cercle royal d'histoire et d'archéologie d'Ath et de la région et musées athois, vol. 62, 2010, pp. 135-197.
VAN DEN ENDE, Eliane. "Louis Ghémar, les méandres de sa vie" in Zwanze, fantaisie & burlesque de Louis Ghémar à James Ensor, Namur, Musée Félicien Rops, 2018, pp. 17-94.
Context
Affiliations
Affiliated entity
Association belge de Photographie
Type of affiliation
Member of
Dates of affiliation
1880 - 1884
Description of relationship
Management
Record source
DIRECTORY_1997#1859
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation/revision
SFJ revised 25.1.2017, 28.1.2018, 4.5.2018 & 15.11.2018; MCC revised 11.12.2018; SFJ revised 8.4.2020 & 19.10.2020 based on information supplied by M. Demaeght