Charles Chusseau-Flaviens

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

{{Short description|French photojournalist (1866–1928)}}

{{infobox person

|image=Charles Chusseau-Flaviens in his office (1890-1900).jpg

|caption=Chusseau-Flaviens in his office in the 1890s

|birth_date={{birth date|df=y|1866|2|13}}[https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb155984954 Chusseau-Flaviens, Charles (1866–1928)]. National Library of France

|birth_place=Les Sables-d'Olonne, France

|death_date={{death date and age|df=y|1928|10|15|1866|2|13}}

|death_place=Les Sables-d'Olonne, France

}}

Charles Chusseau-Flaviens (13 February 1866 – 15 October 1928) was a self-employed French photojournalist from the 1890s to the 1910s. His distribution of other photographer's work for publication created one of the first photo press agencies,{{cite book | first=Thierry | last=Gervais | title=L'Illustration Photographique | language=French | publisher=École des hautes études en sciences sociales (doctoral thesis) | date=6 November 2007 | url=http://issuu.com/lhivic/docs/l-illustration-photographique | pages=284–316}} based in Paris. Chusseau-Flaviens' by-line appeared on numerous photographs from all over Europe as well as from Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and North America.{{cite web | first=A. | last=Eskind | date=September 2001 | url=http://www.geh.org/fm/chusseau-flaviens/htmlsrc/countries.html | title=Ch. Chusseau-Flaviens | work=George Eastman House Collection | publisher=www.geh.org | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423210309/http://www.geh.org/fm/chusseau-flaviens/htmlsrc/countries.html | archive-date=23 April 2012 | url-status=dead }} Subject matters included formal and informal portraits of European royalty, political figures and celebrities in addition to scenes of daily life. According to researchers, no biographical information about Chusseau-Flaviens is known.{{cite journal | first=George | last=Dimock | date=September 2001 | url=http://image.eastmanhouse.org/files/GEH_1978_21_01.pdf | title=The Sunset of the Old World: A Portfolio from the Work of C. Chusseau Flaviens | journal=Image | volume=21 | number=1 | page=1 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312160539/http://image.eastmanhouse.org/files/GEH_1978_21_01.pdf | archivedate=12 March 2013 }}

A substantial portion of his photographic collection, represented by nearly 11,000 glass negatives, was donated by Kodak Pathé to the George Eastman House (GEH) International Museum of Photography and Film in 1974. GEH noted that Chusseau-Flaviens also acquired copies of photographs from other photographers, annotating their names on his glass negatives.{{cite web | first=A. | last=Eskind | date=January 1999 | url=http://www.geh.org/fm/chusseau-flaviens/htmlsrc/chus-intro-1999.html | title=Ch. Chusseau-Flaviens | work=George Eastman House Collection | publisher=www.geh.org | access-date=12 June 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610130235/http://www.geh.org/fm/chusseau-flaviens/htmlsrc/chus-intro-1999.html | archive-date=10 June 2012 | url-status=dead }} They speculated that this accounts for the inclusion of photographs in his collection from various far-flung nations, such as Japan and New Zealand. According to the French Ministry of Culture, his release of the other photographer's work under the Chusseau-Flaviens name created the first photographic press agency of the 20th century.{{cite web | title=Collection photographique de Charles Chusseau-Flaviens | url=http://www.numerique.culture.fr/pub-fr/collection.pdf?id=FR-DC-B751135101_3697f1ae&base=dcollection&mime-type=application/pdf | work=Patrimoine Numerique | publisher=www.numerique.culture.fr}}

Countries represented in the GEH photographic collection include: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Ceylon, China, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Majorca, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United States and Yugoslavia. Due to the relative lack of photographs representing France, it has been speculated that a large portion of Chusseau-Flaviens' work remains undiscovered.

Journals in which Chusseau-Flaviens images appeared include Ilustraçāo Portugueza, L'Illustration, The Illustrated London News,{{cite web | url=http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1903.htm | title=The Illustrated London News 1903 | work=The London Illustrated News | publisher=iln.org.uk | accessdate=13 June 2012}} Le Monde and The Graphic.{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.com/1909-PETER-PHOTOGRAPH-CHUSSEAU-FLAVIENS/dp/B005B7QLUK | title=1909 King Peter War Map Photograph Chusseau Flaviens | publisher=Amazon.com |date=9 September 2009 |accessdate=24 March 2012}}