PARIS, FRANCE.- The Musée d’Orsay presents "Documentary Beauty, 1840-1914," a new exhibition in the permanent Gallery of Photography. The second exhibition in the Musée d’Orsay Gallery of Photography entitled Documentary Beauty, 1840-1914 is an opportunity not only to show a selection of pieces from the museum collection, but also to tackle once again the question of photography as "document" or "art". This exhibition reopens the debate that accompanied the emergence of the new medium in the 19th century: scientific "accuracy" or documentary "truth" do not necessarily exclude artistic quality and formal innovation. The variety of subjects presented and of photographers, some famous and some quite unknown, widens the field of investigation and makes the visit an especially attractive one.

The presentation covers the use of photography for documentary purposes in the 19th century, in fields as varied as astronomy, microphotography, architecture (surveys and inventories of buildings), topography and geology, such as American expeditions of territorial exploration. Made for strictly documentary purposes, often to fulfil precise commissions, according to restrictive processes leaving little freedom to the operator, these pictures often prove to be stunning creations, abounding in formal innovations.

The selection includes over sixty prints including the huge (over five metres in length) topographic surveys of the siege of Sebastopol made in Crimea in 1855-1856 by the colonel Langlois, history painter, assisted by the architect Méhédin.

The exhibition was curated by Quentin Bajac, curator, Musée d’Orsay.