Effets de soleil dans les nuages, Océan 1856
Gustave
Le Gray
About this photograph :
Effets de soleil dans les nuages, Océan 1856
Le Gray’s most famous works are produced between 1856 and 1858. He then creates very beautiful seascapes the rich nuances of which match the tonal sensuality. He uses the ciels rapportés (plotted sky) technique to give the landscape the dramatic intensity that he desires. He gets around the difficulty of the differences in luminosity between landscape and sky by using two negatives and by producing prints in two stages. The originality of this work is the unprecedented importance given to the sky whilst the sea is almost sacrificed.
The reproduction of the skies technically proves to be very complex and for a long time, skies in photographs were just white monochrome. So, from 1840, photographers aspire to achieve shaded skies where clouds appear. To do this, the sky negatives are often taken elsewhere and the photographers go as far as to use blurred or whitened artificial skies. These retouched proofs are already described at the time as ‘artistic immorality’ (Robinson) and it is not unusual to find the same sky on photographs by different authors. In this game of ciels rapportés, many are failures and many photographs present improbable images. The most successful are taken by Le Gray.
At the forefront of the primitive period of photography, Le Gray is praised by Nadar as the one who saved it by introducing art. Inventor and artist, Le Gray therefore stands out by his technical mastery from the point of view of the composition as well as the light.
YellowKorner and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux are delighted to publish a photograph by Gustave Le Gray. Due to its historic nature, this photograph is not numbered or offered as a limited edition.
Digital copy, YellowKorner publication 1 st July 2010.
© RMN / Médiathèque de l'architecture et du Patrimoine.
About the artist :
Gustave
Le Gray
Gustave Le Gray (1820-1884) started off as a painter but his paintings never gained any respect. He gains his reputation as a photographer and receives his first commissions. In 1850, he takes the first official photograph of a French Head of State, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte. He then becomes the majestic family’s official photographer.
Le Gray is responsible for the invention of negatives on glass plates then on dry waxed paper. This above all technical research paradoxically permits him to be the first to obtain practical contingencies to achieve photographic abstraction, a profoundly aesthetic reflection.
«It is my wish that photography, instead of slotting into the domain of industry or commerce, enters the art world. That is its only, veritable place, and it is on this track that I will always try to make it progress. It is up to people who strive for its progress to ensure that this idea is firmly rooted.» GLG
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