Printed: 2025-01-18
Mathieu, [Victor] & Dery, [Félix]
Identity
Category
Partnership
Alternative name or descriptor
- Compagnie Française de Photographie des Couleurs
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Status
- Professional
Details
Life dates
Activity
1898 Bruxelles, Boulevard Anspach, 40
Firm registered in Paris on 21.4.1898 "for colour photography created directly without the subsidiary use of dyes or [paint] brushes; registering any suitable patents; manufacture of plates and paper..." The named shareholders were Victor Mathieu, a photographer in Gargan-Livry [Seine-Saint-Denis, F] and Félix Marie Joseph Dery (° Namur, 13.1.1877), recorded as a photographer living in Brussels, Rue Stevin, 12. Victor Mathieu was either Victor Archier known as Mathieu (see that name) or his son, also named Victor and recorded as a photographer living in Paris in 1908. Headquarters and studio in Paris [F], rue Labruyère, 29. The partners registered five patents in Belgium on 22.10.1898. The firm was launched with an exhibition of examples of their process in the "Salle du Figaro" in Paris on 15.9.1898 and then on 1.10.1898 at this address, office of the newspaper "Le XXe Siècle".
Emile Gautier praised the process in the pages of "Le Figaro": "There is a particular automatic arrangement in the cameras which, by dispensing with a whole series of operations, enables exposure times to be reduced to a maximum of 15 seconds. [...] There are hundreds of copies of paintings, landscapes and portraits sketched from life, photographs of flowers, statues, ornaments, interior views, etc., the effect of which, owing to exactness in colour and treatment, to the fineness of detail, is truly magical." According to the "Bulletin du "Photo-Club de Belgique", the process was very similar to that of Louis Dugardin (see that name).
Despite the great publicity that attended the firm's launch, the process failed to gain traction and the firm was dissolved on 30.5.1899. Victor Mathieu simultaneously operated in Meaux [Seine-et-Marne, F] for an unspecified duration while Félix Dery was recorded as a commercial representative in Brussels in August 1905.
Firm registered in Paris on 21.4.1898 "for colour photography created directly without the subsidiary use of dyes or [paint] brushes; registering any suitable patents; manufacture of plates and paper..." The named shareholders were Victor Mathieu, a photographer in Gargan-Livry [Seine-Saint-Denis, F] and Félix Marie Joseph Dery (° Namur, 13.1.1877), recorded as a photographer living in Brussels, Rue Stevin, 12. Victor Mathieu was either Victor Archier known as Mathieu (see that name) or his son, also named Victor and recorded as a photographer living in Paris in 1908. Headquarters and studio in Paris [F], rue Labruyère, 29. The partners registered five patents in Belgium on 22.10.1898. The firm was launched with an exhibition of examples of their process in the "Salle du Figaro" in Paris on 15.9.1898 and then on 1.10.1898 at this address, office of the newspaper "Le XXe Siècle".
Emile Gautier praised the process in the pages of "Le Figaro": "There is a particular automatic arrangement in the cameras which, by dispensing with a whole series of operations, enables exposure times to be reduced to a maximum of 15 seconds. [...] There are hundreds of copies of paintings, landscapes and portraits sketched from life, photographs of flowers, statues, ornaments, interior views, etc., the effect of which, owing to exactness in colour and treatment, to the fineness of detail, is truly magical." According to the "Bulletin du "Photo-Club de Belgique", the process was very similar to that of Louis Dugardin (see that name).
Despite the great publicity that attended the firm's launch, the process failed to gain traction and the firm was dissolved on 30.5.1899. Victor Mathieu simultaneously operated in Meaux [Seine-et-Marne, F] for an unspecified duration while Félix Dery was recorded as a commercial representative in Brussels in August 1905.
Locations
1898 Bruxelles, Boulevard Anspach, 40
Exhibitions
Genres / subject matter
Techniques
Bibliography/Webography
Context
Affiliations
Management
Record source
DIRECTORY_1997#2990
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation/revision
SFJ revised 1.5.2018; revised 9.2.2020 based on information supplied by M. Demaeght; MD revised 2.3.2023 & 17.1.2025