Gustave Marissiaux is one of the most important turn of the century pictiorialists. During his lifetime he was internationally recognized and honoured but after his death his work was fast forgotten. It’s only in 1980 that his negatives were saved by Marc-Emmanuel Mélon and that his important role in the history of photography became known.
 
Gustave Marissiaux lived in Liège (Belgium) where he worked as a portrait photographer. But he was also an active art photographer and member of the "Association Belge de la Photography" and the "Société française de Photographie". In his artwork he used the Platinum Print, Bromoil, Sury Process and the Photogravure.
 
His Portfolio "Visions d’Artistes" (1908) was his Opus Magnum and gave an overview of the photographs he took between 1899 and 1908. The portfolio is divided in four parts:

• an overview of 7 photographs
• "La terre D’Armor" (France)
• "Venise" (Italy)
• "La Terre Wallonne" (Belgium)

Gustave Marissiaux made most of his photographs during his travel in France and Italy. In 1903 he got the order to photograph the coalmines in Liège (Belgium). He made fabulous work there: the photographs combine the documentary aspect with the atmosphere of pictorialism. Some of the images are even close to modernism.
 
There are two versions of the Portfolio: one printed on Japanese and the other on Old Holland paper. The photogravures were printed by H. Vaillant-Carmanne in Liège.
 
© Xavier Debeerst (AnamorFose - 2006) - Used with permission