Gustave Le Gray, 1820-1884

Description

Gustave Le Gray's life was as romantic as any novel. A young painter in Rome, then a fashionable portrait photographer in Paris, Le Gray received commissions from Napoleon Ill, and astonished viewers with his painterly landscapes and ravishing seascapes. Facing bankruptcy, he feld Paris with Alexandre Dumas to Palermo, travelled to the Middle East, and finally settled in Egypt, where he became drawing master to the ruler's children and continued to make photographs until his death in 1884 Le Gray's work had remained largely unknown by the general public until he was rediscovered in the 1960s and was deemed by connoisseurs to be the Monet of photography. The fruit of years of research, this complete retrospective offers, as no volume before it, an assessment of Le Gray's important place in the history of photography. This catalogue was originally published in French to accompany the exhibition Gustave Le Gray, Photographer (7820-7884) at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in spring 2002.This English-language edition, edited by Gordon Bladwin, associate curator of photographs at the Getty Museum, coincides with an abridged version of the same exhibition at the Getty Museum from July 9 to September 29, 2002

Description

"Gustave Le Gray's life, vividly reconstructed here by Sylvie Aubenas, reads like a romantic novel. As a young painter in Rome, he fell in love with and impetuously married a young and beautiful Italian woman by whom he had six children. He then returned to Paris to take up photography and received important commissions from Napoleon III. He also astonished viewers with his painterly landscapes and ravishing seascapes.". "In an abrupt reversal of fortune, Le Gray's backers wearied of his financial irresponsibility, and he was forced to declare bankruptcy and give up his studio. He abandoned his wife and children and fled Paris on a voyage to the Mediterranean with Alexandre Dumas. After traveling on his own to Beirut and Baalbek, the photographer settled in Alexandria and then Cairo, where he became drawing master to the ruler's children. He occasionally made photographs until his death in poverty there in 1884, leaving behind some of the most dazzling photographic images of his era.". "This catalogue, a complete retrospective of the work of nineteenth-century photographer Gustave Le Gray, is the result of years of combing public and private collections and archives in Europe and North America. It offers, as no previous publication has, both a narrative of the photographer's life and as assessment of Le Gray's unique and important place in the history of photography.". "This volume is being published to accompany the exhibition Gustave Le Gray, Photographer, held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and was originally produced in French to accompany the exhibition of Le Gray's work organized by the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Genres

• Exhibitions

Other Editions

• Gustave Le Gray, 1820-1884HardcoverGallimard2002-03-14
• Gustave Le Gray, 1820-1884The J. Paul Getty Museum2002
• Gustave Le Gray, 1820-1884HardcoverGetty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum2002-08-16