Lot 43: EUGÈNE CUVELIER 1837-1900

A FOREST PATH

measurements note
10 by 7¾ in. (25.4 by 19.7 cm.)

salt print, likely toned, mounted, matted, 1860s

PROVENANCE

The collection of John Chandler Bancroft, Middletown, Rhode Island

Gustave J. S. White Co., Auctioneers, Newport, Rhode Island, 1989

Acquired from the above by a New England antiques dealer

To the present owners, 1989

LITERATURE

Another print of this image:

Ulrike Gauss, Henning Weidemann, and Daniel Challe, Eugène Cuvelier (Stuttgart, 1996, in conjunction with the exhibition), no. 27

NOTE

As with Lot 42, Cuvelier may have achieved the unconventional coloration present in this photograph with the use of toning during the print's processing. Gold-toning, which was a common practice in Cuvelier's time, could produce a wide variety of effects in salt prints, sometimes imparting an almost brick-red coloration. Additionally, Cuvelier furthered the unusual appearance of this print by deliberately overexposing it during printing. This practice, known as 'bronzing,' results in the solarized appearance and selective reversal of tones seen here.

Gauss does not account for the salt print offered here, but lists two albumen prints of this image.