American Museum of Photography -- View Great Photographs

Chasseur Alpin – Autochrome – American Museum of Photography

Unidentified Photographer

Mountaineer

Stereoscopic Autochrome (half shown), approximately 1.75 x 4.2 inches, circa 1918

This man’s beret is reminiscent of those worn by the French soldiers of the Chasseurs Alpins (literally, Alpine Hunters.) The Chasseurs train in cross-country skiing and mountain survival. Today, three battalions remain of the dozen infantry units that formed the Chasseurs in 1888.

Special cameras with two lenses side-by-side are required to produce the twin images of a stereo photograph. When placed in a special viewer, stereoscopic photographs like this one appear in lifelike 3-D. Natural color adds to the illusion. Autochromes were made in several stereoscopic formats; this size, 45 x 107 mm, was introduced by the French camera maker Jules Richard in 1905 and was utilized by both amateurs and professionals into the 1930s.


–Next Image –	–Gallery View–	–Exhibit Start–	–Museum Home Page–

Thanks to Olivier Joseph for correcting our information on this photograph, formerly identified as depicting a member of the Chasseurs Alpins.