Pierre-Louis Pierson (Hinckange (Moselle), 13 December 1822 – Paris, 22 March 1913) was a French portrait photographer.
His studio was located at 5, boulevard des Capucines, on the border between the 2nd and 9th arrondissements in the centre of Paris.
Initially using the daguerreotype, the Pierson-Mayer studio became one of the first to specialise in portrait photography retouched with watercolour or oils. The French Emperor Napoléon III came to prefer their studio, particularly once he established the Second French Empire in 1852.
Pierson created numerous portraits of the French Imperial family during the apex of the Second Empire.
Between 1855 and 1862, at the peak of the Pierson-Mayer studio's prominence, people of all types came to have their pictures taken there, including the imperial court, the aristocracy, powerful businessmen, actresses and musicians. Pierson and the Mayer brothers photographed the kings of Württemberg, Portugal, and Sweden. Starting in 1862, their clientele became more varied, and by 1866, included people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Pierson first met the Countess of Castiglione in 1856, and he would remain her official photographer for forty years. In 1867, Pierson exhibited his portrait of the countess posed as the Queen of Hearts in the French section of photography at that year's Exposition Universelle in Paris.
Pierson and the countess began an intense photographer–model collaboration between 1861 and 1867, wherein she became a master of the art of mise-en-scène and developed roles of a madonna, battered woman, mother, and the high-styled woman dressed in extravagant outfits. In a playful atmosphere which was left largely to improvisation, the countess, with Pierson's help, created many different personalities. Dresses, hairstyles, and attitudes were all studied to dramatic effect. Thanks to the effects of mirrors, she could present different conceptions of the self at the same time. Certain studies show her hair extended; others, cropped. Always at her disposal, Pierson photographed her exposed legs and feet, which were considered erotic imagery, very daring for the time.
Nonetheless, during the countess's lifetime these photos were hers and Pierson's secret. Between 1856 and 1895, the countess posed for more than 450 portraits. This frenetic series of photos, quite rare for the time, was one of the first examples of the photographic self-portrait.
