Charles Negre 1820-1880
One of the most famous early photographers, Negre began as a painter in the studio of Paul Delaroche before devoting his main energies to photography. Out of all the students of Delaroche who took up photography, Negre was by far the most gifted at painting and continued to paint while practicing photography.
He was admitted to the l'Ecole des beaux-arts in 1841 but was unsuccessful in the contests at Rome in 1845. In 1844 he learned daguerreotypy and in 1849 began experimenting with paper printing processes. His rare early studies included some nudes, which were very likely studies for the tableaux paintings he would present to the Salons in 1850-51.
He most likely learnt the waxed paper process from Le Gray and was a founding member of the Societe heliographique as well as the SFP. From 1850 he practiced calotypy exclusively, often working with his colleague Le Secq. Like Le Secq, Negre showed a predisposition to photographing architectural views. He was not chosen for the Mission heliographique but in 1852 left for the Midi region of France contributing his own prints to the visual and architectural history of the land in the form of Le Midi de la France, sites et monuments historiques photographies par Charles Negre, peintre which was meant to comprise of 74 plates. Unfortunately, only 20 of these came to fruition.
Negre's most prolific period of calotypy was from 1849-1855 during which time he developed a strong friendship with Le Secq commemorated by a double-portrait of the two photographers on the roof of Notre Dame. In the beginning of 1850s his calotypes included portraits as well as genre scenes and architectural studies. His paintings often bear strike resemblance to these photographs including his famous pifferari. From 1853 Negre used wet-collodion plate negatives, which he used for the commissions 'portraits de Rachael' (1853) and Asile imperial de Vincennes (1861). But the process with which he was most absorbed from 1854 onward was heliogravure. Due to a complex personal process, he created beautiful plates, which were used to illustrated the monograph by Lassus on the Cathedral de Chartres and the journey of duc of Luynes.
Works by Charles Negre have been particularly well preserved thanks to the care of his descendants and to the collectors Andre and Marie-Therese Jammes.
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Special Charity Fundraiser for The Trussell Trust
7 - 30 Dec 2020The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks to provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaigns for change to end the need for...Read more -
Special Fundraising Sale for the National Health Service
29 Mar - 29 May 2020Unfortunately, NHS Hospital staff, on the front line in the treatment of patients with Covid-19, are still working without the proper PPE (personal protective equipment), and there remains a shortage...Read more -
Travellers in Antique Lands
Ancient Civilisations in the Light of Photography 5 - 28 Feb 2014The exhibition takes its title from a phrase in Percy Bysshe Shelly's famous sonnet Ozymandias (1818), which presents ancient ruins as a metaphor for the fall of dictatorships and the...Read more -
The Paper Negative
A Unique Magic 11 - 14 Oct 2012It was once common-place to simply reproduce modern prints of paper negatives for which no extant print was known, but it has become increasingly recognised that the paper negative has...Read more -
Metamorphoses and the Art of Love
27 Jun - 5 Jul 2012Ovid's Metamorphoses addresses the theme of transformation, most often of human beings into other natural forms. The exhibition includes key works that explore this theme. A centre piece is provided...Read more -
From Sermons in Stones to Monsters of Modernity
9 - 26 May 2012The exhibition title references the religious significance of the portal programmes of Gothic cathedrals with their multiple biblical scenes as well as the gargoyles of Notre Dame that were the...Read more -
Natural Selection
Important Modernist Photographs from Nature (1840-1960) 27 Jan - 25 Feb 2012In painting there are many examples of the leading Modernists beginning their process of abstraction through the deconstruction of landscape motifs such as Cezanne at Mont Sainte Victoire, Picasso at...Read more
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Paris Photo 2021
10 - 14 Nov 2021James Hyman Photography is delighted to return to Paris Photo. This year, we have divided our booth into three main sections. Chronologically, the first, entitled...Read more -
Photo London 2021
8 - 12 Sep 2021James Hyman Gallery is delighted to return to Somerset House for Photo London. Our presentation will focus on the London premiere of Heather Agyepong's recent...Read more