Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson

Life and projects of a Monegasque inventor of the 19th century in Brazil

Until 24 September 2017
Nouveau Musée National de Monaco | Villa Paloma

This exhibition presents the results of 5 years of research on the work of the Monegasque-Brazilian inventor and artist Hercule Florence (1804–79), introducing him for the first time to the European public.

The inventor of Zoophonie, a system for the musical notation of bird songs, and of Polygraphy, a printing method based on the principles of photography, Hercule Florence invented a photographic process in 1833 in Brazil - independently from the contemporary research being carried out in Europe - and was the first to use the word “Photographie”.

International artists such as Lucia Koch, Jochen Lempert, Leticia Ramos, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané and Linda Fregni Nagler (co-curator of the exhibition) have been invited to produce works specifically for this exhibition.

Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson is curated by Linda Fregni Nagler and Cristiano Raimondi, and is accompanied by a publication with international contributions (Humboldt Books).