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Gustave Le Gray

Ships Leaving the Port of Le Havre

Maker

Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820-1882)

Title

Ships Leaving the Port of Le Havre

Year

ca. 1856-1857

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

albumen

Dimensions

31.1 x 40.3 cm (12 1/4 x 15 7/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase: bequest of Lyra Brown Nickerson, by exchange

Object Number

82.035

Type

Publications

Exhibition History

Early Exposures
19th-Century Photography from the Collection
Mar 13, 2015 – Jul 19, 2015

Label copy

This seascape’s dramatic effects are the product of Gustave Le Gray’s stunning innovation in photographic technique. Previously, the proper exposure of both landscape and sky in a single picture was impossible to achieve, since photographic emulsions were not equally sensitive to all colors of the spectrum. Le Gray solved this problem by printing two negatives on a single sheet of paper, exposing the sea and the sky on separate occasions.

Le Gray was trained as a painter, and the silhouetted fleet of ships-the brigantines of the French fleet of Napoléon III- recalls the grace and majesty of painted Romantic seascapes.

Capturing the Light
150 Years of Photography
Sep 22, 1989 – Nov 12, 1989
Recent Gifts and Acquisitions
Nov 05, 1982 – Jan 02, 1983

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820-1882)
Ships Leaving the Port of Le Havre, ca. 1856-1857
Albumen print from two glass negatives
31.1 x 40.3 cm (12 1/4 x 15 7/8 inches)
Museum purchase: bequest of Lyra Brown Nickerson, by exchange 82.035

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