“For our sons’ great-grandchildren, in the indefinite distance of centuries, the picture will have changed. Perhaps the glacier, then completely melted, will be replaced by a weak stream; the mountain itself will have ceased to exist.”

Elisée Reclus, Histoire d’une montagne, 1875

Chambre noire, Archive blanche is an artist's book that explores the Eugène Trutat photographic heritage collection preserved by the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. The book offers a contemporary interpretation of the melting of the Pyrenean glaciers based on photographs dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Text: Lisa Cocrelle, head of the photo library

Images: © Eugène Trutat Collection, Toulouse Museum

Printing: Studio Trames, Sète