Désiré Charnay

Désiré Charnay (1878)

Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay (born May 2, 1828 in Fleurie , † October 24, 1915 in Paris ) was a French explorer, photographer and American scholar who was used both for his explorations of Mexico and Central America and for the use of photography to document his discoveries was known.

Life

Désiré Charnay left the European continent for the first time in 1850 to go to New Orleans . There he began to study French. During this time he got to know the work of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood , both of whom were already exploring Central America. In 1853 he returned to France, where he settled in Paris and came into contact with photography.

In 1857 he began his first expedition to Mexico on behalf of the French government, where he photographed ruins. He is one of the first people ever to take photos of this area. He spent a total of four years there. Based on these images, he published the book Cités et ruines américaines in 1863 . In the same year he went on a three-month trip to Madagascar , where he worked as a writer and photographer for a French expedition. He published his results in 1864 when he returned to Mexico.

From 1867 to 1870 he traveled through North America . This was followed by a stay in South America in 1875 and a trip to Australia and Oceania in 1878. His expedition in Central America, which lasted from 1880 to 1883, was funded in part by the New York philanthropist Pierre Lorillard. About 300 photographs were taken on this trip and he was increasingly active as an archaeologist.

Charnay developed a thesis that some of the indigenous people of Central America were of Asian origin. He published the book Les anciennes villes du Nouveau Monde in 1885 .

Towards the end of the 19th century he stopped his activities in the field of expeditions and science. He made his last trip to Yemen in 1895. He died in Paris in 1915 after having been blind for several months.

Publications (selection)

• Excursions to Madagascar. In: Bulletin de la Société de geographie de Paris. 1864.
• Les anciennes villes du Nouveau Monde. Voyages d'exploration au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale (1867–1882). Hachette, Paris 1885.
• Une princesse indienne avant la conquête. Historical novel. Hachette, Paris 1888.

literature

• Keith F. Davis: Désiré Charnay expeditionary photographer. University of New Mexico Press, 1981.
• Pascal Mongne: Désiré Charnay, le Mexique. 1858–1861, Souvenirs et impressions de voyage. Grion, La Chapelle Montligeon 1987.
• Pascal Mongne: Désiré Charney ou les vestiges d'une œuvre. In: Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. 332/333, 2001, pp. 259-276 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Désiré Charnay  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Désiré Charnay on the Getty Museum website
• Claude-Joseph-Désiré Charnay in the Encyclopædia Britannica