Monday Morning Museum: Eugène Cuvelier

Eugène Cuvelier – 1837 Arras, France to 1900 Thomery, France

French Photographer

Fontainebleau Forest, circa 1860

“The Forest of Fontainebleau-and, in particular, the small town of Barbizon within it-was a popular destination for artists seeking refuge from urban, industrial life in the mid-nineteenth century. With its forty thousand acres of dense woods intercut with rocky gorges and dotted with ancient oaks, Fontainebleau provided an idyllic natural setting for plein-air painters, such as Corot and Millet, as well as for photographers, including Gustave Le Gray and Eugène Cuvelier.
Although the process of making salted paper prints from paper negatives was already somewhat antiquated by the 1860s, Cuvelier chose the technique because of its aesthetic qualities-the soft fibrous effect of the paper negative and the velvety mat surface of the print.” – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
Next Monday’s Artist – Horace Pippin

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent