weekly transmission n°27 thursday 7 july...

PWT 27-2016 CONTENTS :

Timeline of Gustave Le Gray’s addresses in France and Egypt III

Return from the Fountain and other paintings from Egypt V

About Le Gray’s Egyptian Photographic Albums VII-XVIIA Group of Portraits in Oriental Costumes by Gustave Le Gray, c. 1862 1-5Discussion on a possible interpretation of one of them 6-8

WEEKLY TRANSMISSION N°27 THURSDAY 7 JULY 2016

SUMMER QUIZ (continuation) : LÛGRIH EFFENDI, or GUSTAVE LE GRAY IN EGYPT

Weekly Transmission 27 III 7 July 2016 .

Timeline of Gustave Le Gray’s home and studio addresses during the French period

1848: FIRST PHOTOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES IN PARIS

Gustave Le Gray returns from Rome with his Italian wife Palmira and two baby girls Eulalie (born4 June 1845) and Myriam (born 2 August 1846). The first family home in Paris is at 27, quai desGrands Augustins, then, in the first months of 1849, they move to 110, rue de Richelieu, just oneblock away from Auguste Mestral’s appartment at 48, rue Vivienne.

LATE AUTUMN 1849: 7 CHEMIN DE RONDE DE LA BARRIÈRE DE CLICHY

After a cholera pandemic outbreak in Paris and the death of two young children, Myriam and just-born Julie, Gustave Le Gray moves with his wife and the only surviving daughter Eulalie to a morehealthy location, just outside the limits of the city, at 7, chemin de ronde de la Barrière de Clichy(renamed 21, boulevard des Batignolles).

1856/1859: HOME AT BARRIERE DE CLICHY AND STUDIO BD DE CAPUCINES

With the financial support of Marquis de Briges, Gustave Le Gray opens an extraordinary studioin the penthouse of the new building at 35, boulevard des Capucines. The inauguration is relatedin an article published by L’Illustration on 12 April 1856. His family wife Palmira, daughter Eulalie,son Auguste (born 9.03.1851) and Lodoiska (born 18.12.1853) remain at Barrière de Clichy, joinedby Eugène (born 7.09.1857). After the sudden death of Eulalie during summer of 1858, atGrandmother’s place, Villiers-le-Bel, while Gustave was in Normandy. Palmira, Auguste andEugène, the surviving family move to the elegant premises at 35, boulevard des Capucines.

1860: BANKRUPCY

The Marquis de Briges had financed the photographic company up to 100,000 francs-or. After hisdeath, his two sons agreed to follow on (Sept. 1858), but 1 year later they organise the bankrupcyof the photographic studio (15 Feb. 1860) and buy it at a public auction on 21st April 1860.

After a short stay at 15, rue Saint-Lazare, Gustave Le Gray had left Paris for Italy with AlexandreDumas in February 1860. Palmira remains in Paris or Villiers-le-Bel with their only 2 survivingsons (out of 7 children). She will leave for Rome with only the younguest, Eugène, on July 1862.

The recent simultaneous discovery of an oil painting and a group of portraits in oriental costumesbearing the embossed stamp of Le Gray was the occasion to refresh the corpus of availableinformation and hypothesis on Le Gray’s activity and production during the 24 years he spent inEgypt — twice more than the 12 years he spent in France. We tried to list the paintings (5,) thecdv portraits and photographic albums which could be traced.

Weekly Transmission 27 IV 7 July 2016 .

JUNE 1860: PALERMO

Arrival on 9 June 1860 in Palermo, reception by Garibaldi and expedition to Catania. Le Graycreates a celebrated series of negatives in Palermo after the fighting, and several famous portraits.Alexandre Dumas and his guests leave for Malta after four weeks in Sicily on 7 July.

JULY 1860: MALTA

At Valetta, Island of Malta, on 13 July 1860, a dispute leads Dumas to ask Gustave Le Gray andtwo young unfortunate companions, Édouard Lockroy and David Albanel, to leave his vessel. Thegroup will stay one month in Valetta before making their way to turbulent Lebanon. (In June, Thewar in Mount Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley had caused inter-communal tension throughoutOttoman Syria and the Ottoman Empire had agreed on 3 August to the dispatch of up to 12,000European soldiers to reestablish order).

AUGUST-DECEMBER 1860: BEYROUTH - DAMASCUS - BAALBECK

10 August 1860, arrival at Beyrouth. Le Monde Illustré will publish illustrations from Le Gray’sphotographs during the first months of the presence of the French expeditionary force. On 17September, on the road to Damascus, Le Gray broke a leg. In November, for a couple of weeks,he set up his photographic studio in the first floor of the Temple of Jupiter.

1861-1864 ALEXANDRIA

Staying three and half years in Alexandria, Gustave Le Gray will practice photography in theHotel de l’Europe, place des Consuls (renamed place Mohammed Ali).

JULY 1864 - JULY 1884 TWENTY YEARS IN CAIRO

July 1864, Gustave Le Gray moves from Alexandria to Cairo, settles in an old house, Nubarstreet, and, after 1869 in the Aroussi Palace, Sul-el-Zelat street, near Esbekieh Square. He isappointed professor at the Polythechnique, and will keep this position through all policalchanges and bankrupcies of Egypt, until his death in 1884. During 20 years, Professor «Lûgrih»will teach the art of perspective to young officers.

Gustave Le Gray will never return to Paris but he will have at least a contact with Auguste, hisonly surviving child : he gave from Egypt his paternal permission for his wedding on 20 Mai1882, the mother having not been traced. His brother Eugène being disappeared in 1878,Auguste will be the sole heir when Le Gray died in Cairo on 30 July 1884. He left 322 glassnegatives and a few paper negatives. It does not mean he created only 322 negatives ratherthat he could not afford more glasses, he would just clean and re-use them. Five oil paintingscould be traced, three of them went to French auctions during the last five years.

Weekly Transmission 27 V 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Panoramicview, Baalbeck, photographic printpainted in Alexandria, 1863.

«One of the kings of the speciality,Gustave Le Gray, took third place inthe collection with € 100,375 (fourtimes the estimate) for an oilpainting from1863 on photographic

prints from paper negatives mounted on card-board, “Panorama de Balbeck, temple deBacchus et les six colonnes“ (Panorama of Balbeck, temple of Bacchus and the six columns).The picture was taken in November 1860» (Gazette Drouot International,2012) .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Empress Eugénie comes for theopening, painted in Alexandria, 1869.

«The opening was performed by Khedive Isma'ilPasha of Egypt and Sudan, and at Ismail's invitationFrench Empress Eugenie in the Imperial yacht Aiglepiloted by Napoléon Coste, who was bestowed bythe Khedive the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie. The first ship through the canal was the British P&Oliner Delta. Although L'Aigle was officially the firstvessel through the canal, HMS Newport, captainedby George Nares, passed through it first. On thenight before the canal was due to open, CaptainNares navigated his vessel, in total darkness andwithout lights, through the mass of waiting shipsuntil it was in front of L'Aigle. When dawn broke,

the French were horrified to find that the Royal Navy was first in line and that it would beimpossible to pass them. Nares received both an official reprimand and an unofficial vote ofthanks from the Admiralty for his actions in promoting British interests and for demonstratingsuch superb seamanship...» (English Wikipedia).

Weekly Transmission 27 VI 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Le Retour de laFontaine (Back from the Fountain), Cairo,1873. Oil on canvas, 760x555 mm,signed and dated "1873".

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Le Tombeau des Mamelouks au Caire, Cairo, before1880. Oil on canvas, signed, catalogued within Paponot collection.

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. L’Île de Philae, Cairo, 1880. Oil on canvas, signed anddated before 1880, Paponot collection, now Musée archéologique de Dijon.Not illustrated.

«Les deux tableaux (1880) sont de Gustave Le Gray et représentent l'un le tombeau desMameluks au Caire l'autre l’Île de Philae; ce dernier offre un grand intérêt documentaireparce qu'il a été peint (en 1867) avant la submersion de l’île... Les monnaies sontanciennes et modernes. Ce don, qui vient enrichir la collection égyptologique de laCommission, est fait en souvenir de M. Félix Paponot (1835-1897), ingénieur,collaborateur de Ferdinand de Lesseps, pendant les travaux du canal de Suez. LaCompagnie exprime sa plus vive gratitude aux généreux donateurs." (MetropolitanMuseum has Egyptian prints from Le Gray from the same Paponot collection).

?

Weekly Transmission 27 VII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY’S STUDIO IN CAIRO. NubarStreet, 1865. Published by Marion and PhilippeJacquier, 2008 : «Cette photographie d'atelier, ainsiqu’une autre, prise dans la même cour, représentantune femme en train de laver le linge (voir ci-dessous)faisaient partie d'un ensemble de clichés pris enEgypte en 1865 par le photographe d'origine anglaiseLudovico Wolfgang Hart... Dans un article écrit en1865 pour le British Journal of Photography, Hart note: «Gustave Le Gray, qui travaille ici depuis quelquetemps, a complètement délaissé la photographie pourconsacrer tout son temps et son talent à la peinture».

Full text available online :http://lumieredesroses.com/expositions/l-atelier-devoile-de-gustave-le-gray

Weekly Transmission 27 VIII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Caricature, Panorama (Tombeau des Califes) et Onze portraits carte-de-visite alexandrins, Alexandrie, 1862. Fourteen albumen prints, cdv size, 105 x 63 mm,the panoraic view is composed by two small cdv sheets. Unique prints, all in BNF, formercollection of Prince Philipp of Belgium (1837-1905).

«Cette planche sans équivalent de treize vues de petit format, réalisées, légendées et misesen page par Le Gray, donne une vision contrastée de sa production égyptienne initiale. Lasérie de types pittoresques [est complétée par] deux miraculeusement pris sur le vif, quitémoignent d'une extraordinaire liberté de vision». ((Bibliothèque nationale de France,Département des Estampes et de la photographie, acquisition 2001).

Weekly Transmission 27 IX 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Deux «Cavas» (Sentinelles), Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen prints, 105 x63 mm, captioned by Gustave Le Gray on mount, unique. BNF (former collection of PrincePhilipp of Belgium).

The results of the first investigation on Gustave Le Gray in Egypt (recherche confiée à unejeune historienne égyptienne, Mona Attallah) : Sylvie Aubenas et Mercedes Volait, « Dernièresnouvelles du Caire », Études photographiques, n° 12, novembre 2002, [online], mis en lignele 11 septembre 2008. URL : http://etudesphotographiques.revues.org/323.

Weekly Transmission 27 X 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Barbarin», «Négresse du Soudan», Domestiques, Alexandrie, 1862.Albumen prints, 105 x 63 mm, captioned by Gustave Le Gray on mount, unique. BNF (formercollection of Prince Philipp of Belgium).

Weekly Transmission 27 XI 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Effendi» (Fonctionnaire), «Levantine», «Drogman» (Interprète),«Fellah» et «Says», Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen prints, 105 x 63 mm, captioned by GustaveLe Gray. Philipp of Belgium collection, BNF, A second print with dedication of the first portraitappeared in Drouot, Daguerre SVV, 12.12.2012, lot 16, sold 1.500 euros).

Weekly Transmission 27 XII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Maçons», «Manoeuvres», Outdoor Portraits od Workers, Alexandrie,1862. Albumen prints, 105 x 63 mm, captioned by Gustave Le Gray.

«...La série de types pittoresques [est complétée par] deux miraculeusement pris sur le vif, quitémoignent d'une extraordinaire liberté de vision» (BNF).

Weekly Transmission 27 XIII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Palais du Consul Belge, Comte Etienne Zizinia, Place des Consuls,Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen print.

Weekly Transmission 27 XIV 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Henri, comte de Chambordentouré de sa suite: comte Stanislas de Blacas, AbbéTrébuquet (aumônier du comte), comte de Damas,comte de Monti, comte de La Ferronnays,monseigneur de Morissot, two gentlemen and onthe floor, Habib Bey (Chambellan du Khédive),Alexandria, December 1861. Albumen print,200x275 mm. Several prints known, BNF, Getty,private collections, as the portrait was sold in Parisby a famous royalist, Alphonse Giroux.

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait d’homme en costumeoriental, c. 1862. Albumen print, 238x179 mm, bluesignature stamp, location: Getty Museum.

Weekly Transmission 27 XV 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Promenade de Choubra», Cairo, 1862. Albumen paper print from acollodion negative, 310x400 mm. Published by Sylvie Aubenas, present location BNF.

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Soldiers and Military Camels series, February-March 1866. Albumenprint, 242x307 mm, Gilman Paper Company Collection, MET, NYC.

Weekly Transmission 27 XVI 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Moyenne Égypte» series, Three-part Panorama of Guizeh, c. 1865.Albumen prints, 311x418 mm, red signature stamp on print. Actually in the MetropolitanMuseum, NYC, with the note : «This image is the central portion of a three-part panorama.The photograph was one of forty-four in an album entitled "Moyenne-Êgypte, tome I" madefor Félix Paponot, an engineer working on the Ismailiya Canal. This is the only known print ofthis image.»

Weekly Transmission 27 XVII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Voyage on the Nile series, Fête de S. A. Ismaïl Pacha à bord des bateauxde LL. A A. les princes, janvier 1867. Albumen print, 306x402 mm, Gilman Paper CompanyCollection, MET, NYC.

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Vue de la Plaine de Thèbes prise du temple de Karnac, 1867. Albumenprint, 306x402 mm, Gilman Paper Company Collection, MET, NYC.

Weekly Transmission 27 XVIII 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. The Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Amon, Karnak, 1867. Albumenprint, 324x416 mm, stamped. One print in Getty Museum.

«Gustave Le Gray was not the first photographer to make images of Egypt's Hypostyle Hall inKarnak--his former student John Beasly Greene was there over a decade before him--but hisimages are by far the most dramatic.

When arranging this photograph, Le Gray waited until a diagonal pattern of light and shadowcut across the center of the composition, receding to the fallen column at the rear. The claritywith which he recorded the hieroglyphics on the temple's forty-five-foot tall columns is atestament to his technical expertise» (Getty Notice)

Weekly Transmission 27 1 7 July 2016 .

GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a Man in European costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumenprint, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.

Le Gray’s studio in Alexandria was in the Hotel de l’Europe, the curtain is the same as in someportraits in the former collection of Prince Philipp of Belgium (BNF catalogue, ref 202g).


GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait in Oriental Costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.


GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a ??, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdvmount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.


GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a Man in Oriental Costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumenprint, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.


Two Portraits, probably Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumenprints, 98x57 mm, on similar cdv mounts, without stamp.

We note a similar carpet in both portrait, different from LeGray’s, a different table from the former portraits.

Reproduction of a Painted Portrait of a Young Boy, probablyAlexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdvmount, without stamp.

We reproduce those three cdvs for sharing the sameprovenance and very similar mounts.


Discussion on the possible identification of the portrait

We compare points which could become pieces of disproving/supporting evidence :

— The nose— The eyes— The eyebrows— The attitude presence— The lips prognacy— The hair and haircut extremly different— The height and weight different costume

The face reflect an intense and deep emotion. We will look for more comments from travellersabout the general aspect of Lûgrih Effendi during his Egyptian years.

Number Twenty-Seven, Second Season, of the Weekly Transmission has been uploaded on Thursday, 7th July 2016 at 18:15 (Paris time).

Forthcoming uploads and transmissions on Thursdays : Thursday 14th July, Thursday 21st July, 15:15 (Paris time).

[email protected] fax +33153016870

Phone (10 am-5 pm) : (+33) 6.50.85.60.74

We know the drawing of Hy de Montaut only through a small cdv reproduction givenby Le Gray in Alexandria. Henry or Henri Antoine Victor de Montaut (1829-1889), withother artists such as Édouard Riou or George Roux, is remembered for the illustrationsthey made for the novels of the series Voyages extraordinaires by Jules Verne. Also as agood friend of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec or a brave during the Prussian war and Siege.

weekly transmission n°27 thursday 7 july...

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