Born Marie, but ultimately living as Marc, the Comtesse de Montifaud remains one of the most interesting and enigmatic figures in literary history, a trans man who defied social conventions to live and work as he pleased.

Marc de Montifaud was a pioneering French art critic, novelist, and essayist whose work challenged the social and literary conventions of the 19th century. Writing under a masculine pseudonym to circumvent restrictive gender norms, Montifaud explored themes of desire, female agency, and the boundaries of propriety with bold candor that frequently provoked controversy. Several of her works were banned for alleged immorality, and she faced repeated censorship and even imprisonment for her unapologetic examinations of sexuality and power. Yet Montifaud’s fearless voice also won her recognition among avant-garde literary circles in Paris, where she moved and lived much of her life. Today, her writing is being rediscovered as a crucial bridge between the decadent literature of her time and the evolving feminist discourse that continues to challenge cultural taboos.

Issued in installments by the Parisian publisher Goupil between 1876 and 1884, the Galerie Contemporaine, Littéraire, Artistique brought together 241 portraits of prominent figures in literature, music, science, and politics offring the French public an unprecedented visual gallery of the people shaping their cultural and civic life during the Second Empire and the early Third Republic.

The project was fueled by a spirit of national pride and by a new, more modern fascination with fame. Its subtitle—Littéraire Artistique—signaled a desire to elevate photography as a vehicle for high culture, while also capitalizing on the growing appetite for celebrity portraiture.
The images themselves were printed as woodburytypes giving the portraits a richness and permanence that aligned perfectly with the project’s lofty cultural ambitions.

Today, Galerie Contemporaine endures not only as a milestone in the history of photography and publishing, but also as a vivid record of the artists, scientists, and statesmen whose lives and ideas defined modern France.