The Temple of Athene Nike Boissonnas, Fred  (Swiss, 1858-1946)

Fred Boissonnas (1858 – 1946) was from an influential family of photographers, initially situated in Geneva. His accomplishments in photography enabled him to travel widely and often, and from these travels he produced several books, including works on Greece and Egypt. His Greek images totaled over 7000 photographs made with large format cameras, and are inclusive of historical architectural remains, and vistas and landscapes.

In the early 20th century he founded the publishing firm of Boissonnas S.A., which produced several exquisite limited editions illustrated with hand-pulled photogravure plates, elegant design and letterpress of several color inks. In 1910 he made En Grèce Par Monts Et Par Vaux from his enormous archive of Greek negatives. This lavish large folio was limited to 230 numbered copies printed on handmade paper; in 1936 he also issued a second edition in a smaller folio format with a larger limitation.

References

Literatur: Nicolas Bouvier. Boissonnas a Dynasty of Photographers 1864-1983. Lausanne 1983.