The First “Scientific Photographs” of a Sperm Whale (1890) : Francisco Afonso Chaves and the Wonderful Inaccuracy of Image

• Published in: Images re-vues
• Main Author: Reis, Victor dos
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Centre d’Histoire et Théorie des Arts 2022
• Subjects: Francisco Afonso Chaves; photographie; représentation scientifique; visible; visuelle; photography; scientific representation; visual; art; hist; Baleine; la Baleine; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/11090

In 1890, in Paris, a text entitled « Des formes extérieures du Cachalot » was published, signed by G. Pouchet and F.-A. Chaves and illustrated with three drawings and three photographs. These are advertised as “the first scientific photographs of the whale.” Through them it is finally possible to “f...