Untitled
1857
Medium
Albumen print, from the album "Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons"
Dimensions
Image/paper: 29.9 × 36.8 cm (11 13/16 × 14 1/2 in.); Album page: 52.7 × 63.7 cm (20 3/4 × 25 1/8 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
144427
Art Historical Context
Gustave Le Gray's *Untitled* (1857), an exquisite albumen silver print from album *Souvenirs Camp de Châlons captures a pivotal moment in early photography. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography Media department, this 29.9 × 36.8 cm image exemplifies Le Gray's mastery as one of France's pioneering photographers. Trained as a painter, he bridged Romanticism and realism, innovating techniques that elevated photography to fine art. The print hails from the newly established Camp de Châlons, France's vast military training ground opened in 1857 under Napoleon III to modernize the a...
About the Artist
Gustave Le Gray · 1820–1884
Gustave Le Gray, born on August 30, 1820, in Villiers-le-Bel near Paris to a prosperous merchant family, pursued his artistic ambitions against his parents' wishes for a legal career. As an only child, he trained as a painter in the studios of François-Édouard Picot and Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts, exhibiting at the Paris Salons in 1848 and 1853. In 1844, he married Palmira Leonardi...