House in Pau (1854): Art, History and Details

House in Pau (1854) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is W.H.G. (French).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This large, richly toned print is an exceptional example of the artistic and technical abilities of an early amateur photographer, possibly French in nationality, known only as W.H.G. In 1854 this mysterious photographer worked for a limited time in Pau and the surrounding regions of the Pyrenees. Most of his or her 24 known compositions are architectural details or buildings sited in the landscape. In this example, instead of a traditional frontal view, the massive shape of the stately townhouse was documented at an oblique angle, which accentuates its volume and emphasizes the negative space created by the steep roofline against the sky. Yet the photographer also captured delicate details, like the patterns of shadow cast by the open shutters against the building's walls. Clearly, W.H.G. understood the possibilities of the waxed paper negative, with its ability to render broad areas of light and shade, to suggest detail and texture, and to allow the viewer's imagination to complete the picture.

Object facts

• Title: House in Pau
• Date: 1854
• Creator attribution: W.H.G. (French)
• Culture: France(?)
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: salted paper print from a paper negative
• Dimensions: Image: 24.4 x 34.4 cm (9 5/8 x 13 9/16 in.); Mounted: 47.5 x 59.6 cm (18 11/16 x 23 7/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2001.4

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” April 4, 2001, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.