[Amphitheater, Nîmes]

Edouard Baldus

ca. 1853 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

Instead of photographing the entire arena in Nîmes, as he had two years earlier, Baldus focusses here on a section of the façade, playing the superimposed arches against the vertical, shadowed pylons in the foreground. The resulting composition manages to isolate and monumentalize the architecture, while creating a rhythmic play of light and dark that energizes the picture. The photograph was part of a massive, four-year project, Villes de France photographiées, in which the views from the south of France were said to surpass all of the photographer’s previous work in the region.

Artist

Edouard Baldus

Date

ca. 1853

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of Joyce F. Menschel, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2019