Presented at the Musée d’art moderne André Malraux – MuMa in Le Havre , the exhibition « Photographier en Normandie (1840-1890). Un dialogue pionnier entre les arts aims to highlight the decisive role that Normandy played in the beginnings of photography. The exhibition is presented as part of the Festival Normandie Impressionniste 2024, with a book under the direction of Dominique Rouet with Sylvie Aubenas and Benoît Eliot published by In Fine éditions d’art.
While photography now allowed them to capture reality, painters and photographers could abandon it in favor of art.
From 1840, this dialogue between photography and pictorial art testifies to a production of images marked by the spirit of invention and modernity.
An ideal place to measure this reciprocal influence, Normandy holds a special place in the history of photography, as it has attracted so many photographers. Norman pioneers (Brébisson, Humbert de Molard, Bacot, Macaire…) English travelers (Talbot, Ruskin, Tenison…), Parisian photographers (Le Gray, Bayard, Colliau, Davanne, Franck…) and enlightened amateurs (Coulon, Magny, Lepel- Cointet…), everyone met in the ports, facing the sea, on the beaches, in the countryside or in the shadow of a rediscovered Norman heritage.
A field of experimentation and innovation for the greatest photographers since the 1840s, whether inventors or artists, Normandy is the ideal place to measure the reciprocal influence of the arts. Photography records a rich heritage whose fragility and importance we then measure, it follows the progress of the transformation of the coasts by seaside architecture and the arrival of rich summer residents, seeks out the picturesqueness of the countryside, take on genre scenes and maritime views very clearly asserting its artistic ambitions.
The period covered by the exhibition extends from the first years when photographic techniques were disseminated, until the dawn of a new era, that of cinema and the democratization of photography, notably via photo clubs. The animated image was then close to marking the end of the century, and the creation of photographic clubs reflected the renewed accessibility to the process. The precursors, the professionals and enlightened amateurs are no longer the only creators of images. Another story began.
Thanks to recently enriched public collections, and the passion of private collectors, these photographic masterpieces are brought together for the first time in a book alongside major paintings.
Exhibition
Photographier en Normandie (1840-1890), un dialogue pionnier entre les arts
Until September 22, 2024
MuMa Le Havre
2 Bd Clemenceau
76600 Le Havre, France
www.muma-lehavre.fr
Book
Photographier en Normandie (1840-1890), un dialogue pionnier entre les arts
In Fine éditions d’art
https://infine-editions.fr/publications/photographier-en-normandie-1840-1890/
