Photographier En Normandie 1840-1890

Exhibition at the MuMa - André Malraux, Le Havre, 25 May - 22 September 2024

From 1840 onwards, the dialogue between photography and pictorial art bore witness to a production of images marked by a spirit of invention and modernity.

Normandy is the ideal place to measure this reciprocal influence, as it has attracted so many photographers that it holds a special place in the history of photography. Pioneers from Normandy (Brébisson, Humbert de Molard, Bacot, Macaire...), English travellers (Talbot, Ruskin, Tenison...), Parisian photographers (Le Gray, Bayard, Colliau, Davanne, Franck...) and enlightened amateurs (Coulon, Magny, Lepel-Cointet...) met in the ports, by the sea, on the beaches, in the countryside or in the shadow of a rediscovered Norman heritage.

Thanks to recently enriched public collections and the passion of private collectors, this exhibition catalogue brings together for the first time these photographic masterpieces alongside paintings by major artists, including Jongkind, Courbet, Dubourg, Boudin, Pissarro and Monet.