Factory, Terre-Noire

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 Gray made this picture at Terre-Noire (Black Earth) in central France, an area rich in coal and iron ore, raw materials that are essential for the production of iron and steel.