Weekend at the Museum: Escape to Paris

The Metropolitan Museum in New York City has done it again.  Two great photo exhibits in one place.  Charles Marville's nineteenth century photographs of Paris and an overview of the history of photography in Paris from 1840s to the 1930s. 

The City of Paris commissioned Marville to photograph streets and boulevards in the city. Peering at his pictures is like time travel while standing in a gallery. He captured 1850s views before many of these buildings were torn down to create the Paris we're familiar with today.  A review appears in today's New York Times.

In the companion exhibit, Paris as Muse: Photography, 1840s–1930s, curators chose key pieces from the museum's own collection. I can't wait to see what they've selected to put on view. 

Both exhibits are there until May 4, 2014.

Did you know you can search the Metropolitan Museum collections online?   Select Collections from the menu then click search.  Here's a sample of what I found when I searched for daguerreotypes.