Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (French: [lə gʁɛ]; 30 August 1820 – 30 July 1884) was a French painter, draughtsman, sculptor, print-maker, and photographer. He has been called "the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century" because of his technical innovations, his instruction of other noted photographers, and "the extraordinary imagination he brought to picture making." He was an important contributor to the development of the wax paper negative.
Wikidata
Q982549
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Getty record
Introduction
Originally a student of painting, Le Gray began experimenting with photography in the late 1840s, and became well-known for his photos of the Forest of Fontainebleau. He was a founding member of the Société Héliographique in 1851, and of the Société Française de Photographie in 1854. He introduced the wax paper process to the Académie des Sciences in 1851. That same year, Le Gray along with Bayard, Baldus, Le Secq and Mestral, began to photograph the architectural monuments of France for the Commission des Monuments Historiques. He worked with his student Mestral on goverment sponsored missions héliographiques in the Touraine and Aquitaine. In 1855, he established a commercial studio in Paris, which dissolved by 1960 due to financial difficulties. To escape creditors, he moved to Egypt, and continued to photograph and teach there until his death in 1884. French photographer.
Nationality
French
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Teacher, Painter, Photographer
Names
Gustave Le Gray, Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Le Gray, Jean Baptiste Gustave Le Gray, J. B. Gustave Le Gray, Gustave Legray, Jean Baptiste Gustave Legray
Ulan
500000537
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Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

35 works online

Exhibitions

Publication

  • Photography at MoMA: 1840–1920 Edited by Quentin Bajac, Lucy Gallun, Roxana Marcoci, and Sarah Hermanson Meister, 2017 Hardcover, 376 pages
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