Fontainebleau, chemin sablonneux montant

Gustave Le Gray

ca. 1856 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

Le Gray returned to the Forest of Fontainebleau in the mid-1850s with a larger camera and glass negatives. In contrast to the flickering abstraction of his earlier view (no. 62), this picture translates the experience of moving through the forest into a boldly orchestrated composition. Following the sandy road straight back from the picture plane, the viewer progresses from impenetrable shadow (probably emphasized by some providential error in exposure) to the foliage at the right, past the massive tree trunks standing like primitive colossi and toward the crest of the road and bright sky. But more than recounting the experience of an incidental passage through a landscape, Le Gray's photograph is a powerful drama about darkness and light, palpable expression of the unknown and the ethereal.

Artist

Gustave Le Gray

Date

ca. 1856

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005