Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [Self-Portrait in India], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Isaac Lagnado, 1995.

NEW YORK, NY.- A member of the “international set” in fin-de-siècle Europe, Baron Adolf de Meyer (1868–1946) was also a pioneering art, portrait, and fashion photographer, known for creating images that transformed reality into a beautiful fantasy. The “quicksilver brilliance” that characterized de Meyer’s art led fellow photographer Cecil Beaton to dub him the “Debussy of the Camera.” On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Quicksilver Brilliance: Adolf de Meyer Photographs is the first museum exhibition devoted to the artist in more than 20 years and the first ever at The Met. Some 40 works, drawn entirely from The Met collection, reveal the impressive breadth of his career. 

The exhibition includes dazzling portraits of well-known figures of his time: the American socialite Rita de Acosta Lydig; art patron and designer Count Étienne de Beaumont; aristocrat and society hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell; and celebrated entertainer Josephine Baker, among others. A highlight of the presentation is an exceptional book—one of only seven known copies—documenting Nijinsky’s scandalous 1912 ballet L’Après-Midi d’un Faune. This rare album represents de Meyer’s great success in capturing the choreography of dance, a breakthrough in the history of photography. Also on view are the artist’s early snapshots made in Japan, experiments with color processes, and inventive fashion photographs. 

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Rita de Acosta Lydig, 1917. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mercedes de Acosta, 1952.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Etienne de Beaumont, ca. 1923. Gelatin silver print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Paul F. Walter, 2009.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Lady Ottoline Morrell, ca. 1912. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Le Prelude à l'Après-Midi d'un Faune, 1914. Album: 15 1/4 x 11 5/8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [View Through the Window of a Garden, Japan], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Ueno Tōshō-gū, Tokyo, Japan, 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [Amida Buddah, Japan], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Olga de Meyer, Japan, 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Tamara Karsavina, ca. 1908. Autochrome. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005.

Born in Paris and educated in Germany, de Meyer was of obscure aristocratic German-Jewish and Scottish ancestry. He and his wife, Olga Caracciolo, goddaughter of Edward VII, were at the center of London’s café society. 

After starting in photography as an amateur, de Meyer gained recognition as a leading figure of Pictorialism and a member of the photographic society known as the Linked Ring Brotherhood in London. Alfred Stieglitz exhibited de Meyer’s work in his Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession and published his images as photogravures in his influential journal Camera Work. At the outbreak of World War I, de Meyer settled in the United States and applied his distinctive pictorial style to fashion imagery, helping to define the genre during the interwar period. 

The exhibition was organized by Beth Saunders, Assistant Curator in The Met’s Department of Photographs.

Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Olga de Meyer, ca. 1912. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Paul F. Walter, 2009.