An Italian camera artist
Although photography arrived on these beaches around 1843, the recovery of its rich history began among us only from the 1980s and up to the present, historiographical advances have been notable both for the quality of its investigations and for the number of works contributed, especially through the successful Congresses on the History of Photography, which began in 1992.
Since the pioneering stage of daguerreotypes, the city of Buenos Aires concentrated within its limits most of the country's photographic activities, both in the professional and amateur fields. The European immigration flood -especially from the last third of the 19th century- brought with it a significant number of Italian, French, English, German and other nationality photographers who, with their primitive cameras on their backs, accompanied their countrymen in the strenuous task of documenting the transatlantic adventure of "Fare l'America"
From that myriad of pioneers, today we want to rescue the forgotten figure of Félix Pitré (also identified as Félix N. Pitré) of whom little or nothing is known, although we must point out that it was precisely the Italian professionals who dominated the Argentine photographic scene in the period between between 1880 and about 1920 and, of course, Félix Pitré was part of this majority contingent.
The immigrant Pitré between censuses and baptisms
We make this clarification because for some researchers and even in several catalogs he is erroneously recorded as being of French nationality, surely due to the characteristics of his last name. Félix N. Pitré was a native of beautiful Italy and this is clearly stated in the first National Census of the year 1869 -initiative of President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento-, which produced a national total of 1,830,214 inhabitants, of whom 187,346 lived in the city from Buenos Aires. Pitré was an artist of the brush and the camera.
The earliest information finds him arriving at the port of Buenos Aires from Rosario on the national steamer Pavón, on September 11, 1862 [1]. Regarding his presence in the census records, the first were provided to us by the researcher Oscar Levin and recently the genealogist Rosario García de Ferraggi completed the information, enriched by the discovery of the baptismal certificates of two of her children.
First National Census: September 15 to 17, 1869. Census form: N° 6: Pitré / Félix / 32 years old / Male / Single / Italy / Portrait painter / If he reads / If he writes.
Analyzing the census form in detail, we observe some very interesting data; First of all, on that day, all those registered in that central building, located at number 110, San Martín street in Buenos Aires, were foreigners: six French, two Italians -one was Pitré himself-, two Americans -among them the US Consul-, an Englishman and even a German.
From that affidavit we see then that Félix Pitré was born in Italy around the year 1837 approximately, he declared as his main profession that of "Portrait painter" -this was the name of the work of photographers at that time-, indicates that he knew how to read and write and, according to his say, towards the date he was of single marital status. However, the discovery of the baptismal certificate of his first daughter sheds new light on his biography. Indeed, in the Book of the Parish of San Miguel Arcángel, on April 25, 1868, it is indicated that the girl Magdalena María Pitré was born in the city of Buenos Aires on March 4, 1867, as the legitimate daughter of Don Félix Pitré, of 32 years old and Doña Concepción Giunti, 19 years old, both Italians, like the godparents; all domiciled in the city of Buenos Aires.
Baptismal certificate of the eldest daughter of Félix Pitré. Church of San Miguel (Buenos Aires). The ecclesiastical document is partially burned, as a result of the fire in that temple due to the events of June 16, 1955.
Baptism certificate No. 990 of the child Arturo Pitré, who was baptized in the Parish of La Concepción on October 22, 1871. At that time his parents were domiciled in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Boca.
This last document provides a new piece of information that draws our attention. We verified that towards October of the year 1871 the Pitré family resided in the neighborhood of La Boca, one of the points hardest hit by the terrible yellow fever that struck Buenos Aires, which between January and June of that year produced the chilling sum of 13,614 deaths. , including 6,201 Italians, this being the foreign community most affected by that deadly scourge.
The last ambrotypist
If we were to divide Argentine photography of the 19th century into two great moments, its distinctive features would be identified by the technical processes known as unique positives and positive-negatives; in the first group are the daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, valid from 1843 until the end of the 1860s and in the second we can talk about the salted papers or talbotypes (1854-1860) and then overwhelmingly the popular copies on paper at the Albumen (1860-1890).
Owners of these complicated technical processes, professional photographers turned almost completely to the commercial exploitation of social portraiture; The brand new European invention finally put within the reach of humanity a true miracle, nothing less than its own iconic representation and, moreover, with a truly amazing fidelity. In this way the unstoppable parade began in all the towns of the world towards the mysterious photographic ateliers.
At that time, the daguerreotype, due to its high prices, was intended for the wealthiest classes of the population. This elitist limitation clashed with the desire for iconic representation of the rest of society of its time. In the search for cheaper processes, the ambrotype technique arose around 1854, which basically used the already current process of negative glass plates emulsified in wet collodion and, then, on a dark background and by reflection of light, a unique positive, which was then encapsulated in the same cases and frames as the prestigious daguerreotypes.
In the new ambrotypes, the exposure times in front of the camera were shortened and, of course, it was a cheaper photographic work. Its geographical diffusion was as rapid as that of its predecessor, the daguerreotype. Barely a decade later, the young Argentine soldier Félix Benavidez (1842-1929) directed his steps towards the atelier of the ambotypist Don Félix N. Pitré located to date on Calle Defensa 303 in Buenos Aires.
At that time, a visit to a photographic studio was often associated with a significant event in that person's life; We now imagine that Benavidez's decision to take a picture in his dress uniform could be linked to the recent outbreak of the Paraguayan War (1864-1870), a bloody conflict that pitted the Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay against the Paraguay of Francisco Solano. López, a conflict in which thousands of combatants from the four warring nations finally perished.
Vicente Osvaldo Cutolo in his New Argentine Biographical Dictionary (1985) tells us that Félix Benavidez joined the 1st Infantry Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Roseti and, as soon as hostilities began, he marched to the front lines. He fought in the capture of Corrientes, in the battles of Yatay, Uruguayana and Paso de la Patria; in the taking of Itapirú, the action of Estero Bellaco, in Tuyutí and finally in the meeting of Yataytí Corá, where he was seriously wounded.
The historian Miguel Ángel Cuarterolo in his well-remembered book "Soldiers of Memory" (2000) points out that soldiers from the four countries in conflict attended the studies en masse before traveling to the battlefronts; For the vast majority of these young people it was the first portrait, but for those who did not return... it was the last of their lives.
Despite the fact that around the date of execution of this ambrotype (circa 1862) the popular and cheap visiting card or "carte-de-visite" was already in full force - with its twelve copies in different poses and in the measuring 10 x 6 cm each - we found that the future General Félix Benavidez opted for a unique and higher-ranking portrait and in the important size of a quarter plate (11.3 x 9 cm).
In that glazed gallery with an aerial pose -located on the roof of the Buenos Aires studio- the young military man faces the great gallery chamber; well concealed from view, a metal neck support makes it easy to avoid any movement that puts the portrait at risk. That South American soldier Félix who marches to war and the European portraitist Félix who rescues his figure forever, look directly into each other's eyes from two different worlds. For this occasion, Pitré has arranged an austere set design, with a smooth, clear and neutral backdrop. With dark hair and a thin mustache, Benavidez sits on a wooden chair with an open back; On the small table covered with a flowery folder he rests one arm and also the regulation kepi, with the other hand he holds the sword crossed on one leg. [2]
In our opinion, the pictorial performance of the Italian, little known until now, can be appreciated in the excellent illumination (colouring) of this nineteenth-century ambrotype. We observe the precision and even the delicacy of his miniaturist brush in the application of gold color on the 14 buttons of the uniform, on both cuffs, on the ring, the hilt of the sword and even on the fine guards of the kepi; he also applied red color to the same regulation hat and even advanced in the thin line on the edge of the military jacket.
It is important to note that a small vintage advertising label is attached to the back of the aforementioned ambrotype -only 5.9 x 5.5 cm- on green-toned paper and with the lithographic legend: "Félix N. Pitré - Photographer - 303 Defense Street 303 - Buenos Aires". The only illustration in said advertisement shows the classic hand palette traversed by four brushes and, curiously, no element alludes to the new photograph, which would indicate that the artist sends a strong message to the local public about his status as a portrait painter. Statistical studies that we carried out opportunely indicate that only around 10% of the daguerreotypes and ambrotypes made in Argentina were signed by their authors and we consider that in this case we have been very lucky. The commission to a Buenos Aires printer of the aforementioned lithographic label presupposes a certain production of ambrotype portraits by Félix N. Pitré, obviously concerned with identifying his own works.
Author's lithographic label. It is located on the back of the F. Benavídez ambrotype. Saavedra Museum, Buenos Aires.
Pitré in the Trade Guides and Yearbooks (1864-1880)
Félix N. Pitré's performance as a portrait photographer for Buenos Aires society spanned the decades from 1860 to 1880. Like all his colleagues, he turned to the exploitation of portraits made in the small French format of business cards printed on albumin paper. or albumin, a very popular fashion at the time due to its low cost and the novel possibility of distributing these twelve images among relatives and friends.
That format invented and patented around 1854 by the Frenchman André Adolphe Eugéne Disdéri (1819-1889) used a special camera with four lenses, thanks to which up to a dozen portraits could be delivered to the customer in different positions and for a much lower price. to the expensive daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, which it quickly displaced from the world photographic market.
The geometric multiplication of these cards very soon gave birth to the family photographic album; In addition, due to their size, volume and negligible weight, they could be easily sent by letter to any destination in the country or abroad. Another effect of this veritable boom was the multiplication of photographic houses, whose number increased significantly; To give just one example, we will say that the German Adolfo Alexander (1822-1881) came to have three simultaneous studios in the city of Buenos Aires around the 1860s and attended by various European operators.
In our library we have more than 150 guides and yearbooks with references and advertisements about daguerreotypists and photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries. In these old publications we trace the commercial activity of Félix Pitré in his different studios and the years of his performance in the competitive Buenos Aires market. Among them, we mention his oldest identification, located in the "Dictionary of Buenos Aires, or Foreigner's Guide", edited by Antonio Pillado (Buenos Aires. 1864), where he is mentioned as a portraitist with his studio on Calle Defensa 303 ( p. 322). [3]
Advertising located in "El Avisador-Guía General del Comercio de Buenos Aires y de Forasteros", published by Wenceslao R. Solveyra (1866), p. 78. Although he indicates that his is a photographic establishment, he also promotes oil portraits of the.
The 1866 advertisement reproduced here reads: «Universal Gallery - Photographic Establishment - Félix N. Pitré - Defensa Street No. 303 - This establishment is recommended for the perfection of the oil portraits that are produced in it - To correspond to the many requests from the public, from the date -Editor's note: could it be an update of a notice that had been repeated for some time?, since, as a portrait painter, I had been active since at least 1864- I have added the field of photography in all its ramifications, such as cards, natural or color photographs, enlarged copies of old portraits, portraits especially to send in letters and relief portraits. The cards are recommended for their good taste and the delicateness of their preparation. The public can trust that the prices will be among the most moderate”. [4]
The last of his references that we located in our collection of guides and yearbooks, we located in the "Guía Demissol", published in Buenos Aires in the year 1879. At that time his address was at Belgrano 590. It is interesting to note that on the tour through its notices we locate it in five business addresses; two on Calle Defensa -at 303 and 299, will it be a single store with two entrances on the same corner?- and the rest on Belgrano 487 and 590, the artery where he also located his studio at 361, as indicated in the third card-de-visite of the Cuarterolo collection. (See image) And the fifth, indicated on the albumin with the view of carts that the National Historical Museum has.
We must point out that the only photographic historian who mentions Félix Pitré is Juan Gómez in his well-known book "Photography in Argentina - Its History and Evolution in the XIX Century. 1840-1899" published in 1986; In a very brief text, he indicates in his chapter dedicated to the year 1864 (pages 70 and 71) that: "Another of the new professionals who are added to the already compact core of the capital is Félix N. Pitré, who with his "Universal Gallery" located in the Calle Defensa No. 303 (299) took "photographs of all kinds (...)" later he would move to Belgrano No. 487."
Portraits and more photographic portraits
We have located a small number of photographic portraits in the "carte-de-visite" format made by the photographer Félix N. Pitré. One of them is owned by the Hilario Gallery in Buenos Aires (SEE). Another, in the former collection of León Benarós, and in the collection of the National Historical Museum, is a portrait of Serafín Baema (Baena?) with his Freemason attributes [5] and a 15.2 x 20.4 cm albumen -registration 10249- titled Carretas, which, in the Museum entry, appears dated in Buenos Aires in 1867, with the address of its business in Bolivia (Bolivar?) 364 street of this city.
Portrait of Serafin Baema (Baena?). He poses with all of his Masonic insignia. Photography Carte-de-visite. National historical museum.
In the Cuarterolo Collection we can identify three photographic works by Pitré, all in the format of visiting cards and which show us a clear overview of the refined technique of that European portrait painter. The first image in this collection is a beautiful full-length portrait of Mercedes Almandos who, on the back of it, writes a dedication in black iron gall ink: «Mercedes Almandos. In memory of her cousin, Don Máximo del Mármol. October 13, 1864» Mercedes' reference to the term "memory" is not only poetic to us; also and, in fact, contains the very essence of that new photography -with only two decades of existence in the country- that captured a moment of people's lives and projected them into the future... somehow defeating the design inevitable of death.
Beautiful portrait of the young Almandos who wears her dress with a wide crinoline and leans on the balustrade of the study. Behind, the painted curtain recreating a bucolic European landscape. Cuarterolo Collection.
The second portrait of the Cuarterolo collection shows us a young man posing facing the camera with four lenses and against a light and neutral background that highlights his masculine figure; He sports a bushy mustache and beard and, in this case, Pitré resorted to vanishing vignetting to obtain the figure known as "half-bust".
This "Carte de visite" on a male study portrait, presents on the back of the secondary support a lithographic print with an image and text identical to the aforementioned label of the ambrotype of General Félix Benavidez, preserved in the Saavedra Museum in Buenos Aires. Cuarterolo Collection.
At this point we consider that the manufacture of lithographically printed supports from the 1860s and during the pioneering stage of albumen papers effectively testifies to the timid beginnings of the Argentine photographic industry. This graphic resource was extended and improved over the years through successive photographic stages.
Summarizing, we will say that the Italian Félix N. Pitré exploited professional photographic portraiture between the years 1864 and 1880 -that is, between the ages of 32 and 48- always in the area of the city of Buenos Aires. Technically, he worked with wet collodion negatives and albumen paper copies, his favorite format being the French "carte-de-visite" and during that period he was recognized by numerous clients for the quality of his images.
The pictorial world of Félix N. Pitré
Like so many active photographers during the second half of the 19th century, the Italian Félix N. Pitré navigated between the troubled waters of the new and revolutionary photography and the traditional easel painting. It is known that Daguerre's disciples struggled from the very beginning to artistically validate those mechanical images produced almost magically in the improved camera obscuras with the help of light and various chemicals. They even used to present themselves as: "Professors in the Art of the Daguerreotype".
In fact, a certain number of painters and even miniaturists abandoned their traditional trade and went over to the photographic field with weapons and baggage; history indicates that all kinds of exchanges took place and, it is no mystery to anyone, that the new photographic images served as a practical model for landscape painters (SEE) and even easel portrait artists eliminated long and exhausting live sessions , having as the only model the photographic portrait of his client.
If we were then to carry out a search on the pictorial background of F. Pitré in Argentina, we can appeal to his own statements in the advertising field; For example, we see the outstanding ad for the year 1866-1867 that indicates in its header and with a prominent text, we mention it, "This establishment is recommended for the perfection of the oil portraits that are produced in it."
At the same time, the ambrotype of General Benavidez has a really wonderful illuminated (colored) work. The advertising label on the back of that work is also significant, whose only drawing is a palette and its brushes; lithographic illustration that is in turn printed on the back of portrait No. 2 of the Cuarterolo Collection, while number 3 presents in its advertising reference the classic symbols of a photographic camera crossed with a palette and brushes.
As for his pictorial production, the National Historical Museum preserves four oil paintings on canvas. Two of them are listed in volume II of his catalog published in 1951. On page 142 he describes: «- N° 6751 - "Steamship navigating the Río de la Plata". Oil on canvas. Author: Felix Pitre. 1860. Measurement: 750 x 490 (mm). Angel Carranza Collection. 9-X-1901. Object N° 5883» Note: This date of 1860 would indicate his residence in Buenos Aires, with his young 23 years already practicing as a landscape painter, shortly after, he would have left for Rosario, from where he returned in 1863. The remaining work mentioned in the page 436 of said Catalog bears the number 9816: «"Combat of Lomas Valentinas" Oil on canvas. Author: F. Pitré. Measurement: 1045 x 580 (mm). Gift of R.M. Barilari. 9-10-1928. Object No. 3694.»
Félix Pitré, Combat of Lomas Valentinas, oil on canvas, 56 x 118.5. Information provided by the MHN. Photography: National Historical Museum of Argentina.
The battle of Itá-Ybaté or Lomas Valentinas took place between December 21 and 27, 1868 with a balance of 8,000 Paraguayan deaths and meant the beginning of the end for the government of Francisco Solano López in the bloody war that pitted him against the Triple Alliance; conflict in which the future General Félix Benavidez actively participated. As we can see, the ambrotype of the soldier and the war painting -both works by Félix Pitré- would perhaps have a certain common thread.
The MHN also treasures an oil on cardboard portrait of Martín Boneo -registration 608- measuring 17 x 12 cm, the work of Félix Pitré.
Finally we located another oil on canvas of traditional tenor, "Descanso de Carretas", presented under Lot 76 in the Special Auction held in March-April of the year 2021 by the auction house "Bullrich, Gaona & Wernicke" in Buenos Aires. The painting is based on the colored lithograph by the French artist Adolphe d'Hastrel (1804-1875) opportunely published as plate No. 6 in his well-known "Album de la Plata", although it does so by introducing various changes in relation to the aforementioned lithograph of the French traveling painter.
Félix Pitré, "Descanso de Carretas", oil on canvas signed and dated 1865. 27 x 38.5 cm. Particular collection. Buenos Aires.
In this case, the work of the Italian artist measures 27 x 38.5 cm and is signed on the lower right: "Felix N. Pitré - 1865". Thanks to his concern for the authorship of his artwork, we now have his holographic signature; Another fact, and not exactly a minor one, is that around that date the Italian ambrotypist, photographer and painter Félix N. Pitré, was running his "Universal Gallery" on Calle Defensa No. 303 when he was only 28 years old.
In this way, we end our work on the life and work of the talented Félix N. Pitré (1837- ?), a European brush and camera artist who worked continuously in Buenos Aires for several decades of the 19th century and of whom practically nothing was known about his career in the field of nineteenth-century photography in our country.
We thank once again the valuable contributions of Roberto Amigo, Rosario García de Ferraggi, Mirta and Andrea Cuarterolo, Marcelo Mazza, Luis Priamo and Roberto Vega Andersen de Hilario. Arts, Letters, Trades.
Notes:
1. Information provided by art historian Roberto Amigo.
2. Thanks to Fundación Antorchas - under the direction of Luis Priamo - we had the opportunity at the time to restore, investigate and reference technically and historically the valuable collection of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of the Saavedra Museum in Buenos Aires; During this process, the reproductions of such delicate works were in charge of the photographer Marcelo Mazza, who used a special technique. Unfortunately, the aforementioned ambrotype -donated in a timely manner to the Saavedra Museum- suffered a vertical break on the glass-support on an undetermined date, but this break does not affect the image of the brave soldier.
3. In this list, a total of 28 photographic firms operating in the city of Buenos Aires are obtained; two of which are located on the same Defensa street, that is, Félix Pitré at 303 and Adolfo Alexander at 225.
4. Pitré should have paid a higher rate for this special classified ad and that indicates his desire to stand out from his colleagues in the capital. Pictorially, the analysis of the ad points out to us, in the first place, the emphasis on promoting his oil portraits and even his illuminated (colored) photographs. Then he goes on to promote the new "carte-de-visite" and, the reproduction of old photographic portraits, indicates that he was reproducing the already old daguerreotypes and, the subsequent enlargement on albumin paper, was done with a solar camera, that is, a technical background. of the laboratory enlarger.
5. In the registry of the National Historical Museum, N° 10917, it is indicated that the work is signed by the company of Pitré y Grande and with premises at Calle Defensa 299 in Buenos Aires, one of the commercial locations already mentioned. In our records on photographers in Argentina in the 19th century, no professional with the surname Grande appears.
* Special for Hilario.