WEEKLY TRANSMISSION N°27
THURSDAY 7 JULY 2016
SUMMER QUIZ (continuation) :
LÛGRIH EFFENDI, or GUSTAVE LE GRAY IN EGYPT
PWT 27-2016 CONTENTS : Timeline of Gustave Le Gray’s addresses in France and Egypt Return from the Fountain and other paintings from Egypt About Le Gray’s Egyptian Photographic Albums A Group of Portraits in Oriental Costumes by Gustave Le Gray, c. 1862 Discussion on a possible interpretation of one of them
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The recent simultaneous discovery of an oil painting and a group of portraits in oriental costumes bearing the embossed stamp of Le Gray was the occasion to refresh the corpus of available information and hypothesis on Le Gray’s activity and production during the 24 years he spent in Egypt — twice more than the 12 years he spent in France. We tried to list the paintings (5,) the cdv portraits and photographic albums which could be traced.
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 (born 4 June 1845) and Myriam (born 2 August 1846). The first family home in Paris is at 27, quai des Grands Augustins, then, in the first months of 1849, they move to 110, rue de Richelieu, just one block 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 justborn Julie, Gustave Le Gray moves with his wife and the only surviving daughter Eulalie to a more healthy 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 studio in the penthouse of the new building at 35, boulevard des Capucines. The inauguration is related in 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, joined by Eugène (born 7.09.1857). After the sudden death of Eulalie during summer of 1858, at Grandmother’s place, Villiers-le-Bel, while Gustave was in Normandy. Palmira, Auguste and Eugène, 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 his death, his two sons agreed to follow on (Sept. 1858), but 1 year later they organise the bankrupcy of 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 Alexandre Dumas in February 1860. Palmira remains in Paris or Villiers-le-Bel with their only 2 surviving sons (out of 7 children). She will leave for Rome with only the younguest, Eugène, on July 1862.
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JUNE 1860: PALERMO Arrival on 9 June 1860 in Palermo, reception by Garibaldi and expedition to Catania. Le Gray creates 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 and two young unfortunate companions, Édouard Lockroy and David Albanel, to leave his vessel. The group will stay one month in Valetta before making their way to turbulent Lebanon. (In June, The war in Mount Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley had caused inter-communal tension throughout Ottoman Syria and the Ottoman Empire had agreed on 3 August to the dispatch of up to 12,000 European 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’s photographs during the first months of the presence of the French expeditionary force. On 17 September, 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 the Hotel 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, Nubar street, and, after 1869 in the Aroussi Palace, Sul-el-Zelat street, near Esbekieh Square. He is appointed professor at the Polythechnique, and will keep this position through all polical changes 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, his only surviving child : he gave from Egypt his paternal permission for his wedding on 20 Mai 1882, 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 glass negatives and a few paper negatives. It does not mean he created only 322 negatives rather that he could not afford more glasses, he would just clean and re-use them. Five oil paintings could be traced, three of them went to French auctions during the last five years.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Panoramic view, Baalbeck, photographic print painted in Alexandria, 1863. «One of the kings of the speciality, Gustave Le Gray, took third place in the collection with € 100,375 (four times the estimate) for an oil painting from1863 on photographic prints from paper negatives mounted on card-board, “Panorama de Balbeck, temple de Bacchus 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 the opening, painted in Alexandria, 1869. «The opening was performed by Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt and Sudan, and at Ismail's invitation French Empress Eugenie in the Imperial yacht Aigle piloted by Napoléon Coste, who was bestowed by the Khedive the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie. The first ship through the canal was the British P&O liner Delta. Although L'Aigle was officially the first vessel through the canal, HMS Newport, captained by George Nares, passed through it first. On the night before the canal was due to open, Captain Nares navigated his vessel, in total darkness and without lights, through the mass of waiting ships until 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 be impossible to pass them. Nares received both an official reprimand and an unofficial vote of thanks from the Admiralty for his actions in promoting British interests and for demonstrating such superb seamanship...» (English Wikipedia).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Le Retour de la Fontaine (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, before 1880. Oil on canvas, signed, catalogued within Paponot collection.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. L’Île de Philae, Cairo, 1880. Oil on canvas, signed and dated 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 des Mameluks au Caire l'autre l’Île de Philae; ce dernier offre un grand intérêt documentaire parce qu'il a été peint (en 1867) avant la submersion de l’île... Les monnaies sont anciennes et modernes. Ce don, qui vient enrichir la collection égyptologique de la Commission, est fait en souvenir de M. Félix Paponot (1835-1897), ingénieur, collaborateur de Ferdinand de Lesseps, pendant les travaux du canal de Suez. La Compagnie exprime sa plus vive gratitude aux généreux donateurs." (Metropolitan Museum has Egyptian prints from Le Gray from the same Paponot collection).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY’S STUDIO IN CAIRO. Nubar Street, 1865. Published by Marion and Philippe Jacquier, 2008 : «Cette photographie d'atelier, ainsi qu’une autre, prise dans la même cour, représentant une femme en train de laver le linge (voir ci-dessous) faisaient partie d'un ensemble de clichés pris en Egypte en 1865 par le photographe d'origine anglaise Ludovico Wolfgang Hart... Dans un article écrit en 1865 pour le British Journal of Photography, Hart note : «Gustave Le Gray, qui travaille ici depuis quelque temps, a complètement délaissé la photographie pour consacrer tout son temps et son talent à la peinture». Full text available online : http://lumieredesroses.com/expositions/l-atelier-devoile-de-gustave-le-gray
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Caricature, Panorama (Tombeau des Califes) et Onze portraits cartede-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, former collection of Prince Philipp of Belgium (1837-1905). «Cette planche sans équivalent de treize vues de petit format, réalisées, légendées et mises en page par Le Gray, donne une vision contrastée de sa production égyptienne initiale. La série de types pittoresques [est complétée par] deux miraculeusement pris sur le vif, qui témoignent d'une extraordinaire liberté de vision». ((Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la photographie, acquisition 2001).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Deux «Cavas» (Sentinelles), Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen prints, 105 x 63 mm, captioned by Gustave Le Gray on mount, unique. BNF (former collection of Prince Philipp of Belgium).
The results of the first investigation on Gustave Le Gray in Egypt (recherche confiée à une jeune historienne égyptienne, Mona Attallah) : Sylvie Aubenas et Mercedes Volait, « Dernières nouvelles du Caire », Études photographiques, n° 12, novembre 2002, [online], mis en ligne le 11 septembre 2008. URL : http://etudesphotographiques.revues.org/323.
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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 (former collection of Prince Philipp of Belgium).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Effendi» (Fonctionnaire), «Levantine», «Drogman» (Interprète), «Fellah» et «Says», Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen prints, 105 x 63 mm, captioned by Gustave Le Gray. Philipp of Belgium collection, BNF, A second print with dedication of the first portrait appeared in Drouot, Daguerre SVV, 12.12.2012, lot 16, sold 1.500 euros).
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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, qui témoignent d'une extraordinaire liberté de vision» (BNF).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Palais du Consul Belge, Comte Etienne Zizinia, Place des Consuls, Alexandrie, 1862. Albumen print.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Henri, comte de Chambord entouré de sa suite: comte Stanislas de Blacas, Abbé Trébuquet (aumônier du comte), comte de Damas, comte de Monti, comte de La Ferronnays, monseigneur de Morissot, two gentlemen and on the 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 Paris by a famous royalist, Alphonse Giroux. GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait d’homme en costume oriental, c. 1862. Albumen print, 238x179 mm, blue signature stamp, location: Getty Museum.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. «Promenade de Choubra», Cairo, 1862. Albumen paper print from a collodion negative, 310x400 mm. Published by Sylvie Aubenas, present location BNF.
GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Soldiers and Military Camels series, February-March 1866. Albumen print, 242x307 mm, Gilman Paper Company Collection, MET, NYC.
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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 Metropolitan Museum, 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" made for Félix Paponot, an engineer working on the Ismailiya Canal. This is the only known print of this image.»
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Voyage on the Nile series, Fête de S. A. Ismaïl Pacha à bord des bateaux de LL. A A. les princes, janvier 1867. Albumen print, 306x402 mm, Gilman Paper Company Collection, MET, NYC.
GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Vue de la Plaine de Thèbes prise du temple de Karnac, 1867. Albumen print, 306x402 mm, Gilman Paper Company Collection, MET, NYC.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. The Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Amon, Karnak, 1867. Albumen print, 324x416 mm, stamped. One print in Getty Museum. ÂŤGustave Le Gray was not the first photographer to make images of Egypt's Hypostyle Hall in Karnak--his former student John Beasly Greene was there over a decade before him--but his images are by far the most dramatic. When arranging this photograph, Le Gray waited until a diagonal pattern of light and shadow cut across the center of the composition, receding to the fallen column at the rear. The clarity with which he recorded the hieroglyphics on the temple's forty-five-foot tall columns is a testament to his technical expertiseÂť (Getty Notice)
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a Man in European costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 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 some portraits in the former collection of Prince Philipp of Belgium (BNF catalogue, ref 202g).
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait in Oriental Costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a ??, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.
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GUSTAVE LE GRAY. Portrait of a Man in Oriental Costume, Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, Le Gray’s blind stamp.
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Two Portraits, probably Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen prints, 98x57 mm, on similar cdv mounts, without stamp. We note a similar carpet in both portrait, different from Le Gray’s, a different table from the former portraits.
Reproduction of a Painted Portrait of a Young Boy, probably Alexandria, c. 1862. Albumen print, 98x57 mm, on cdv mount, without stamp. We reproduce those three cdvs for sharing the same provenance and very similar mounts.
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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 — The lips — The hair and haircut — The height and weight
presence prognacy extremly different different costume
The face reflect an intense and deep emotion. We will look for more comments from travellers about the general aspect of Lûgrih Effendi during his Egyptian years.
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We know the drawing of Hy de Montaut only through a small cdv reproduction given by Le Gray in Alexandria. Henry or Henri Antoine Victor de Montaut (1829-1889), with other artists such as Édouard Riou or George Roux, is remembered for the illustrations they made for the novels of the series Voyages extraordinaires by Jules Verne. Also as a good friend of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec or a brave during the Prussian war and Siege.
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). serge@plantureux.fr
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