| Abstract: | Abstract Gustave Le Gray is most widely known for his collodion seascape views which were first exhibited in 1856 at the Photographic Society of London. These views, in their strict horizontal compositions and dramatic skies, anticipate the seascape paintings of Courbet1, An equally strong parallel exists between Le Gray's landscape photographs and early paintings of the Impressionists. Le Gray's landscape views of the forest of Fontainebleau shown in the 1859 Photographic Salon were described by Burty, a French art critic: ‘he air plays through the leaves, and the sun streaks the dark grass like the hide of a panthe’ 2 Ibid., p. 352. , The monumental trees, skies and rushing forests, halted by occasional lines of light, distinguish his landscape images ofthis period. He genuinely loved nature but never idealized it. |
