Factory, Terre-Noire

Gustave Le Gray

1851–1855

Salted paper print from a paper negative

J. Paul Getty Museum

A wide view of an industrial factory complex with smoking chimneys, set against rolling hills. In the foreground, carts and debris are visible near a body of water. A wide view of an industrial factory complex with smoking chimneys, set against rolling hills. In the foreground, carts and debris are visible near a body of water. A wide view of an industrial factory complex with smoking chimneys, set against rolling hills. In the foreground, carts and debris are visible near a body of water. Gustave Le Gray recognized that this bleak factory was a highly unusual subject. Heavy industry was rarely a motif for photography in the mid-1800s. Rather than shying away from it, however, he masterfully recorded the blackened foreground and spreading clouds of smoke that veil the deforested hillsides. Le G