Gustave Le Gray photographer (1820-1882)

Gustave Le Gray was the head of the school of primitive French photography (between 1847 and 1860) considered today as a "golden age". The strength of this unequalled technician relied above all on the sometimes metaphysical lyricism with which he was able to represent nature in his impressive sea-pictures, his studies of the sky or his views of the Fontainebleau forest.
A lyricism that one can also find in some historical reports such as that which shows the barricades and the destruction in Palermo in 1860 during the Risorgimento. From the very beginnings, the greatest photographers were able to pose as visionary and poets.
This exhibition, the first large one about the artist, was organised by the Art Institute of Chicago and benefited from the addition of works from the French collections.