CHIMNEY SWEEPS WALKING

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CHARLES NÈGRE

Genre: Documentary

Date: 1851

Location: Paris, France

Format: Salt print

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“Charles Nègre (1820-80) was a painter who studied under Paul Delaroche and participated regularly in the Salon des Beaux-Arts exhibitions in Paris in the 1840S and 1850S. Delaroche encouraged the use of photography in research for painting, and in 1844 Nègre took up his suggestion with enthusiasm, roaming the streets of Paris to capture scenes of daily life.

The image shown here may look like a spontaneous photograph, but long exposure times meant that capturing movement was impossible, even on a bright sunny day such as this, as evidenced by the strong shadows. In reality, Nègre carefully posed the sweeps to simulate the apparence of motion. The boy of the front has bent his knee to imitate the action of walking.

To shorten the exposure as much as possible, Nègre used a lents with a very wide aperture, creating a shallow depth of field and blurring the background buildings.

Unlike numerous painters who turned to photography and never looked back, Nègre considered painting throughout his life, and indeed Chimney Sweeps Walking may have been a staged study for a projected work in oils.” (CH)

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