Description

Cloud Stories presents a fresh account of the history of cloud photography, from the invention of the medium in the early 19th century to the present day.

Naturally ephemeral phenomena, cloud formations have fascinated the art world since antiquity: how can these clouds be captured? What do they signify? What do they foretell? Are their shapes identical across the globe? Are they a mirror of our psyche? Can they be artificially reproduced? Artists and scientists have been fascinated by the sky and its manifestations for centuries, so when the process of photography emerged–;along with its potential to capture reality–;inventors, chemists, astronomers, meteorologists, engineers, and above all, pioneers of photography, set about developing innovative technical processes that now offer new ways of seeing and understanding the world.

Drawing on the prestigious Archive of Modern Conflict collection, housed in London, the book offers an immersive exploration of a rare body of photographic work, enriched with images from renowned collections, including those of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Société française de photographie. Organized thematically, Cloud stories unfolds like a grand photographic album punctuated by portfolios and essays. Renowned for bringing lesser-known collections to light, Luce Lebart highlights here the documentary, aesthetic, and scientific contributions of cloud photography to the history of the medium. This photography thus played a role in the development of an international cloud classification system and the establishment of a nomenclature, as clouds once had no names.

Note biographique

A photography historian and independent curator, Luce Lebart is also the French correspondent for the Archive of Modern Conflict collection. She studied at the École nationale supérieure de la Photographie in Arles, where she began her research in art and photography history. She directed the Canadian Institute of Photography from 2016 to 2018, after serving as collections manager at the French Society of Photography from 2011 to 2016. Her research focuses on archival photography, the history of techniques, and scientific and documentary practices in imaging.

She has curated the following exhibitions: Souvenirs du sphinx and Lady Liberty at the Rencontres d'Arles (2015 and 2016); Illuminations (Foto/Industria, Bologna, 2015); Frontera (National Gallery of Canada, 2017/2018); and Cloud Album. Photographs from the Archive of Modern Conflict with Timothy Prus (The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2022). She has edited several books and anthologies, including Les Grands Photographes du XXe siècle (Larousse, 2017), Une histoire mondiale des femmes photographes (Textuel, 2020), and Natures vivantes. Images & Gardens by Albert Kahn (Atelier EXB, 2024).

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