Photography & Fontainebleau

by Kari Bradbury August 4, 2008

I am not a fan of the Impressionists. They just don’t
wet my whistle. However, I was dragged into the halls of In the Forest
of Fontainebleau:
Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet

at MFAH by an
optimistic friend and while my shoulders slumped and my head hung down, I
caught a glimpse of an old camera from my floor-ward gaze.  A nineteenth-century camera that would have been active in the Forest of Fontainebleau
stood tall in front of me. Being an amateur photographer, I became instantly
interested. The process of producing an image in print in those days was so
cumbersome it is a wonder anyone was interested in doing it. I have admiration
for the photographers and painters who lugged their pounds upon pounds of
equipment deep into Fontainebleau
to reproduce their versions of its grandeur. Viewing Theodore Rousseau’s Sunset
in the Forest
gave me the same awe-inspired feeling I got when I first saw a
sunset in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Well—maybe
not the exact same feeling.

Gustave Le Gray...Beech Tree, Forest of Fontainebleau...1856...Albumen print

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cole quitmandell April 5, 2008 - 09:16

16 Variations is by Fred Sandback. Donald Judd gets enough props without your help.

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Bill Davenport April 6, 2008 - 17:20

Fred Sandback is right. Sorry. But where did the other four variations get to?

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CNYTHOG May 15, 2008 - 08:32

Gerald Lopez of Corpus Christi–there seems to be not much love for us CCTX artists.
I call us the Country Mouse.
Bill D. why don’t you come and investigate first hand. Maybe we could put you up in a hotel.

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