Hans Kraus to Exhibit Henri Courmont at Paris Photo - 17-21 November
HANS P. KRAUS JR. FINE PHOTOGRAPHS TO EXHIBIT
HENRI COURMONT
SALT PRINTS FROM PAPER NEGATIVES, 1853-1855
AT PARIS PHOTO, 17–21 NOVEMBER 2010, BOOTH A-21
Henri Courmont, Royaumont - cloitre, 1853-1855
Salt print from a paper negative, 33.5 x 24.6 cm
Paris, November 2010 ― Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs has announced the discovery of a portfolio of salt prints from the 1850s, which will be exhibited at Paris Photo from November 17 through November 21, 2010. Fifteen photographs of French landscapes and architecture made by Henri Courmont (1813 -1891) will be on view for the first time. Work by Gustave Le Gray, which was found in the portfolio, will also be on exhibit. An illustrated catalogue with an essay by photo historian Denis Canguilhem will accompany the exhibition. Henri Courmont: Salt Prints from Paper Negatives, 1853-1855, coincides with a landmark exhibition (through January 16, 2011) at the Bibliothèque nationale de France entitledPrimitifs de la photographie. Le calotype en France (1843-1860), which includes examples by Henri Courmont.
An important cultural official, but unknown as a photographer until now, Courmont served the Mission Héliographique, which was France’s first public and collective commission charged with documenting the country’s architectural patrimony using the new art of photography. As a commissioner, Courmont’s task was to develop the program and appoint its photographers. He secured the services of some of the finest talents of the day: Le Gray, Édouard Baldus, Henri Le Secq, Hippolyte Bayard and Auguste Mestral. Modest and contemplative, Courmont was an intensely private individual who probably did not exhibit his work during his lifetime, which may be why he has been omitted from studies of early French photography. Courmont’s work is now being identified and researched. It seems likely that Courmont may have studied with Gustave Le Gray.
More than 50 salt prints from paper negatives are contained in the portfolio, including work by Le Gray, Baldus and Le Secq. Courmont’s subject matter ranged from intimate studies of trees, forest views, bucolic farm scenes, and mills reflected along riverbanks to rural bourgeois homes and public edifices in Paris. The portfolio was discovered when a bookseller in the Troyes region of France was retiring from business decided to part with it.
Informed by the most talented French photographers, Henri Courmont created a remarkable body of landscapes and architectural work. When this group of pictures are unveiled at Paris Photo 2010, it may well be the first exhibition ever of Courmont’s work.
Other photographers featured in the Bibliothèque nationale exhibition whose work will be included at Hans Kraus’s stand at Paris Photo are Eugène Cuvelier, J. B. Greene, Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard, Charles Négre, and Joseph, vicomte Vigier.
During Paris Photo, the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris will show the work of Heinrich Kühn (1866-1944). Hans Kraus will also have three full-plate autochromes depicting Kühn’s young children on view.
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Hans P. Kraus, Jr. has been established in New York since 1984 as a dealer in 19th and early 20th century photographs, specializing in the paper negative era, which flourished before 1860. Mr. Kraus is a member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), the Private Art Dealers Association (PADA), and the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). He participates regularly in the Winter Antiques Show, The Art Show (ADAA), TEFAF Maastricht, and Art Basel, and publishes monographs and catalogues on early photographers under the series title Sun Pictures. The gallery is located at 962 Park Avenue at 82nd Street in New York City. For more information, please contact +1 212-794-2064 orinfo@sunpictures.com.
