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    Real/Ideal: Photography in France, 1847–1860

    August 30–November 27, 2016

    Getty Center

    The French Fleet, Cherbourg, 1858, Gustave Le Gray, albumen silver print from a glass negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

    The French Fleet, Cherbourg, 1858, Gustave Le Gray, albumen silver print from a glass negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • West Facade of the Cathedral of Saint-Gatien, Tours, 1851, Gustave Le Gray and Auguste Mestral, waxed paper negative. Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

    West Facade of the Cathedral of Saint-Gatien, Tours, 1851, Gustave Le Gray and Auguste Mestral, waxed paper negative. Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

  • Tarascon, 1852, Charles Nègre, waxed paper negative with selectively applied pigment. The J. Paul Getty Museum

    Tarascon, 1852, Charles Nègre, waxed paper negative with selectively applied pigment. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • George Sand (Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin), Writer, about 1865, Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon), albumen silver print from a glass negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

    George Sand (Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin), Writer, about 1865, Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon), albumen silver print from a glass negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • Draped Model, about 1854, Jean-Louis-Marie-Eugène Durieu (possibly with Eugène Delacroix), albumen silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum

    Draped Model, about 1854, Jean-Louis-Marie-Eugène Durieu (possibly with Eugéne Delacroix), albumen silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • Chimney Sweeps Resting, 1851, Charles Nègre, salted paper print from a paper negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

    Chimney Sweeps Resting, 1851, Charles Nègre, salted paper print from a paper negative. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • General View of Amiens, 1855, Édouard Baldus, salted paper print from a paper negative. Collection of the Sack Photographic Trust, and collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, fractional gift of Paul Sack

    General View of Amiens, 1855, Édouard Baldus, salted paper print from a paper negative. Collection of the Sack Photographic Trust, and collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, fractional gift of Paul Sack

  • Fantasies, about 1855, Henri Le Secq, cyanotype from paper negative. Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

    Fantasies, about 1855, Henri Le Secq, cyanotype from paper negative. Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Real/Ideal: Photography in France, 1847–1860

August 30–November 27, 2016, Getty Center

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In France in the mid-19th century, a decade after the announcement of photography’s invention, dynamic debates were waged about the medium’s prospects in the contrary fields of science and art. As a medium capable of unprecedented veracity, did photography simply record the real world, or could it express an aesthetic vision or ideal? Inspired by writers and painters, photographers began to focus on real people, places, and things as subjects (rather than academic, mythical, or biblical ones), as they explored new technological possibilities.

Organized around the Getty Museum’s holdings and supplemented with international loans, this exhibition highlights the work of four photographers: Édouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq, and Charles Nègre.

RELATED EVENTS

DEMONSTRATION
Artist at Work: Paper and Light

Drop by as photographer Luther Gerlach explores the art and science behind early paper photography and demonstrates a variety of authentic 19th-century cameras, lenses, and other equipment, including an interactive camera obscura. This is a free, drop-in program.


Sundays, October 2, 9, and 30, and November 13, 1:00 –3:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Museum Courtyard

TOUR
Curator and Conservator Gallery Tour

Karen Hellman, assistant curator of photographs, and Sarah Freeman, associate conservator of photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, lead a gallery tour of the exhibition Real/Ideal: Photography in France, 1847–1860. Meet under the stairs in the Entrance Hall. Sign-up begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Information Desk. Capacity limited.

Tuesday, October 25, 2:30 p.m.
Getty Center

MOBILE TOUR

Free GettyGuide® Multimedia Player

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Hear how mid-19th century French photographers navigated between the polarities of science and art, documentation and expression.

Pick up a multimedia player free of charge in the Museum Entrance Hall.

VIDEO



Talbot’s Processes (from Photographic Processes Series, Chapter 3)
William Henry Fox Talbot is best known for the invention of negative/positive photography. This video explains and demonstrates his photogenic drawing, salted paper print, and calotype negative processes.

Courtesy of George Eastman Museum. Produced with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Grant Number MA-10-13-0194. © 2014 George Eastman Museum

PUBLICATION

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