Proof: Maxime Du Camp's Photographs of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa

Proof: Maxime Du Camp's Photographs of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa is the first exhibition to focus on The Met's rare collection of photographs made by French writer and photographer Maxime Du Camp in advance of his landmark 1852 book, of Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. This work, the first photographically illustrated book published in France, arguably established an aesthetic standard for documentary photography: Its salted paper prints are noteworthy for their surprising range of warm colors, handwork, and a luminescence that recalls their Mediterranean origin. Unlike the book's focus on monuments and ancient ruins, they also provide evidence of modern civilization in unfamiliar, arid landscapes.