John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Temple of Hathor, right section of the façade, small speos, Abu Simbel, 1853-1854
Waxed paper negative and salt print
Negative 31.3 x 24.3 cm; Print 29.7 x 23.4 cm
Greene was a student of the noted photographer Gustave Le Gray in Paris who, as Eugenia Parry writes, was “a magician of change who inspired and shaped the genius of John Beasley Greene.” In 1853, the 21 year old Greene made the first of two voyages to Egypt as a photographer and archaeologist to record its monuments. His early death at age 24 left the exquisite Egypt pictures as both his legacy and his memorial to photographic art, as seen in this rare pair of matching negative and positive.
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Rooftops, Paris, 1852-1853 or earlier
Waxed paper negative
24.3 x 31.2 cm
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
El-Kantara Bridge, Constantine, Algeria, 1855-1856
Lightly coated salt print from a paper negative
23.5 x 29.4 cm
From 1855-1856, Greene produced a series of images of Constantine, an ancient city dramatically perched on a mountaintop in Algeria, the last he made before his death at the early age of 24. In the light of North Africa, Greene doesn’t exactly represent places, even when he records houses, ruined aqueducts, roads, bridges or burial sites, he creates tonal maps. This late work is about feeling. In Constantine, dwellings on a mountain seem to be outcroppings of the rocks themselves. Young Greene was close to dying; he wanted his pictures to look like how he felt.
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
"Étude au dessus de Louqsor," circa 1854
Salt print from a paper negative
23.0 x 29.9 cm
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Boulders, Forest of Fontainebleau, 1852-1853 or earlier
Waxed paper negative
24.8 x 31.5 cm
Gustave Le Gray began photographing the Forest of Fontainbleau in the late 1840s and in the foray created some of the most beautiful forest scenes in the history of art. His student, J.B Greene ventured into the same territory, most probably accompanied by his teacher. His exact mirroring of a view which Le Gray had already so skillfully rendered make the likelihood that some form of collaboration on this work existed between the two. While many of the photographs Greene produced in this setting betray an ingénue-like quality, the resulting negative is as nuanced as it is confident in the artist's handling of both setting and perspective, rivaling in quality the work of his master.
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Mariette's excavations to the left of the Sphinx, Giza, 1853
Waxed paper negative
24.4 x 31.3 cm
With archaeologist and excavation team carefully posed around the site, this is one of the few Greene photographs to include any figures. The Metropolitan Museum has a print from this negative: Accession Number: 2005.100.276. It is featured in the J.B Greene exhibition and catalogue by Corey Keller, SF MOMA and currently at the Art Institute of Chicago.
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Tomb of the Christian Woman with false door, near Cherchell, Algeria, 1855-1856
Lightly coated salt print from a waxed paper negative
28.6 x 22.8 cm
Numbered "1000.30" in pencil on verso
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Ottoman minaret, Cairo, 1854-1855
Waxed paper negative
24.7 x 31.5 cm
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
Great Hypostyle Hall, outer face, north wall, Karnak, 1854-1855
Waxed paper negative
24.0 x 31.8 cm
Watermark "J Whatman"
The Great Hypostyle Hall is just one structure within the vast Karnak temple complex. Located just oustide Luxor, this particular element was begun in the 19th Egyptian century by Hatshepsut, the only second known female pharaoh. Like many of Greene's images of Egyptian landmarks, he adapts his perspective to the definitive drama of the architecture itself conveying to the viewer in equal measure the power of the setting and of photography's ability to capture it for posterity.
John Beasley Greene (American, born in France, 1832-1856)
El-Kantara Bridge, Constantine, Algeria, 1855-1856
Lightly coated salt print from a paper negative
22.5 x 30.3 cm on 22.8 x 30.3 cm paper
Inscribed "Constantine" in pencil on verso
El-Kantara, a town located in Biskra Province Algeria, is most well-known for the eponymous gorge around which the Roman constructed bridge Greene has captured sits. Greene's trip to Algeria came at the very close of his own life. His work in Egypt taught him how to build a composition and his photographs of this particular period feel more like tonal maps than mere representations of a place.