Bornage de Barbizon

1860s

Not on view

A well-travelled path invites viewers to follow the deep double ruts left by countless wagons that traversed the boundary between the town of Barbizon (on the left) and the forest of Fontainebleau (on the right). Beginning in the 1860s, Cuvelier joined other artists in the pursuit of a creative existence along this very border, living with friends and family in town while venturing out by day to interpret the famous woodlands with his camera. In this deceptively bucolic scene, Cuvelier dramatizes the primordial power of the forest, which threatens to burst forth from the path’s makeshift retaining walls while the shadows of its mighty oaks menace the flimsy fence around Barbizon; in response, the younger trees in the town appear to retreat, their slender trunks swaying backward as if in the face of a forceful wind.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Bornage de Barbizon
Artist: Eugène Cuvelier (French, 1837–1900)
Date: 1860s
Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions: Sheet: 10 in. × 13 5/16 in. (25.4 × 33.8 cm)
Mount: 21 7/8 × 27 15/16 in. (55.5 × 71 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gift of W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg, 2021
Object Number: 2021.389
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

By Eugène Cuvelier

In the same medium

From the same time and place

[Fontainebleau Forest], Eugène Cuvelier French, Salted paper print from paper negative — [Fontainebleau Forest]
Eugène Cuvelier
early 1860s

Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French — Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

American Barque "Jane Tudor," Conway Bay, David Johnson British, Salted paper print from glass negative — American Barque "Jane Tudor," Conway Bay
David Johnson
ca. 1855

Près de la Caverne, Terrain Brûlé, Eugène Cuvelier French, Salted paper print from paper negative — Près de la Caverne, Terrain Brûlé
Eugène Cuvelier
early 1860s

Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat, Edgar Degas French, Graphite and black chalk — Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat
Edgar Degas
Sitter Edouard Manet
ca. 1868

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