John Beasley Greene (American, 1832-1856) Aqueduct with Constantine, Algeria, in the Distance, 1856 Salt print from waxed paper negative 9-1/4 x 12 inches (23.5 x 30.5 cm) John Beasley (sometimes mistakenly Buckley, which was his father's middle name) Greene was a French-born (in 1832 in Le Havre) American archeologist, who was the son of a Boston banker living in France, whose company, based in Le Havre, in late 1854 was called J.B. Greene & Co. Greene lived at 10 rue de la Grange Bateliere in the 9th arrondissement of Paris and was a student of photographer Gustave Le Gray. In 1854 Greene became a founding member of the Société Française de Photographie and belonged to two societies devoted to Eastern studies. Greene became the first practicing archaeologist to use photography, although he was careful to keep separate files for his documentary images and his more artistic landscapes. Afflicted by ill health he died tragically young but his surviving work, including scenes and still lifes in Paris, but principally scenes of Algeria and Egypt, are some of the most radical in early photography--proto-modernist in their construction. Before his departure to the Middle East, Greene studied for a year with Gustave Le Gray creating numerous views of Paris, still lives and landscapes. In fact, the two photographers most likely photographed the forest of Fontainebleau together as two of their views of the forest from this year are nearly identical. In 1853 at the age of 21, Greene embarked on an expedition to Egypt and Nubia to photograph the land and document the monuments and their inscriptions. Upon his return, Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard published an album of 94 of the over 250 photographs that he took on this journey. Greene returned to Egypt the following year to photograph and to excavate at Medinet-Habu in Upper Egypt, the site of the mortuary temple built by Ramses III. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved