Untitled (1900)
22 PHOTO POSITIVES ON GLASS PLATE
In the history of analog photography, the glass plate is the forerunner of the roll of film. Only the roll of film contains only the negative for the photograph to be printed in the darkroom. In contrast, the glass plates in this series by Léonard Misonne are at once the positive images, that is, they are the final result of the photographic process. By exposing the silver emulsion on the glass plate to light, Misonne immortalized these sunlit rural scenes. Misonne considered the subject less important than the light. This sometimes blurred, essentially impressionistic view of country life earned the Belgian photographer the nickname “the Corot of photography.