Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Évrard

French photographer

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June 22, 2026

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Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Évrard was a French photographer who introduced albumen paper around 1850. This light-sensitive paper, coated with egg white and a salt, was then sensitized with silver nitrate. It was widely used for about 60 years. Albumen prints are valued by collectors for their subtle tones and fine detail. Blanquart-Évrard's innovation was a significant development in early photographic processes.

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history of photography
Development of the wet collodion process
Introduced in 1850 by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, albumen paper is a slow printing-out paper (i.e., paper that produces a visible image on direct exposure, without chemical development) that had been coated with egg white before being sensitized. The egg white gave the paper a glossy surface that improved the definition…
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Introduced in 1850 by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, albumen paper is a slow printing-out paper (i.e., paper that produces a visible image on direct exposure, without chemical development) that had been coated with egg white before being sensitized. The egg white gave the paper a glossy surface that improved the definition…
Read More

albumen paper
…introduced by the French photographer Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Évrard in about 1850 and was widely used for about 60 years thereafter. Early employers of the process applied by hand the albumen and the silver solution, but by 1869, paper thus treated could be stored and marketed in bulk.
Read More
…introduced by the French photographer Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Évrard in about 1850 and was widely used for about 60 years thereafter. Early employers of the process applied by hand the albumen and the silver solution, but by 1869, paper thus treated could be stored and marketed in bulk.
Read More