Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1884). Brick in the moonlight... Lot 1

Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1884). Brick in the moonlight (Normandy), circa 1856. Albumen print from a collodion glass negative, mounted on cardboard. On the front of the print, lower right, signature in red. On the front of the mount, lower right, label "Collection A. DUCHESNE ...". On reverse of mount, label "Collection DUCHESNE" and traces. Visual size: 41.6 x 32.1 cm. Mounting size: 44.2 x 34.7 cm. (small thumbtack holes on mount and discreet old fold at right edge). Note: - A similar visual is preserved in the Département Estampes et Photographie of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. - Cf. bibliography 2, page 126: "... An early marine, The Brick in the Moonlight, was exhibited on November 6, 1856 in London at a meeting of the Photographic Society of London. Other studies of the Normandy shore include Cabourg, Le Soleil au zénith, Le Soleil couronné, the port and museum of Le Havre, and the beaches of Sainte-Adresse. The immediate success of Brick au clair de lune, in particular, and of this first series in general, undoubtedly made Le Gray see the possibility of paying back the de BRIGES and pursuing a personal body of work, while keeping his boulevard studio running...". Bibliography: 1 - Gustave Le Gray 1820-1884, L'émotion photographique, Collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Troyes, France, 2002. 2 - Gustave Le Gray 1820-1884, under the direction of Sylvie Aubenas, exhibition at the BNF, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallimard, Paris, 2002. 3 - Eugenia Parry Janis, The Photography of Gustave Le Gray, The Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago Press, 1987. Expert : Isabelle CAZEILS