FAIRS

March 29, 2012 — April 1, 2012

This exhibition includes works by some of the greatest photographers of the first generation, such as Alinari, Baldus, Bisson, de Beaucorps, Le Secq, Marville and Nègre and others.

We have selected the pictures not only for their artistic merit but also for the condition and quality of each print. Furthermore the focus of this small selection is on the transitional years 1850-60.

This is a particularly interesting time of rapid developments in photography. The invention of the glass negative and albumen paper gave the artists important choices of “soft” or “sharp focus”,  depending on the selected materials.

This difference is nicely illustrated in the two prints from the same negative by Baldus of Michaelangelo’s Slave. One is printed on salt paper and the other on albumen paper and both prints are beautiful in their own rights.

Some artists preferred the traditional paper negatives like for example de Beaucorps who in 1859/60 still used them on his extended travels in Europe and North Africa. Others like the Brothers Alinari or Bisson produced photographs of unsurpassed sharpness and clarity from glass negatives on albumen paper.

The Brothers Bisson made some of their greatest prints at this time. The large and mysterious photo of the Roman architectural detail is an outstanding example of their artistic excellence and technical achievements.

AIPAD

Park Avenue Armory

67th Street and Park Avenue

New York City

Opening: March 28, 2012, 5 – 9 pm

Exhibition: March 29 – 31, 11 – 6 pm / April 1, 11 – 5 pm

Gustave Le Gray will not be included here, as his works are being shown in our special exhibition “Thoroughly Le Gray” at the rooms of C.G. Boerner.

Thoroughly Le Gray