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A number of them allowed a purely photographic inter-
pretation of forms and matters, and illustrate a work of
lights and contrasts, as their title, “Studies,” indicates.
Broadly spread in exhibitions organized by the
A.B.P., but also in photographic exhibitions abroad such
as Berlin (Royal Academy, 1899), Roubaix (Interna-
tional Exhibition of Photography, 1900), and Glasgow
(International Exhibition, 1901), and printed in national
and international reviews, Marissiaux’s works give him
access to unanimous recognition, making him a leading
photographer of Belgian Pictorialism.
To these supports is added another one: the luminous
projections. Organized annually by the Liège section of
the A.B.P., they achieved open success by the general
public. Marissiaux almost systematically took part in
these projections, between 1894 and 1924. It is in that
context that he set up, in 1903, a sort of “total spectacle”
entitled “Venice.” It proposed, in Liège Conservatory,
a projection of photographic views of the lake city, ac-
companied with a poem recitation and music for choir,
and orchestra, composed by his friend Charles Radoux.
The new version of this show, presented in 1906, gave
rise to no less than 26 representations, in Belgium and
abroad.
Italy was for Marissiaux a genuine source of inspira-
tion. From 1900 onwards, he travelled there every year,
and visited most Italian cities of art. The photographs
taken during these travels represented an important part
of his work, consisting mostly of oily inks (Rawlins
process). These allowed Marissiaux to dissolve details
into an evanescent and coloured rendering that particu-
larly suited the representation of Venice. He chose to
regroup those Venice views in an homonymous album,
published in 1907.
Surprisingly enough, the largest public success was
brought by an order that orientated Marisisaux onto un-
explored paths, namely social photography. Formulated
by Liège Syndiciate of Coal Board, this commission
consisted of illustrating the industry of coal mining
in the Liège area. The photographer was invited to
work with stereoscopy, to reinforce the impression of
the spectator of a true immersion into the coal mining
reality. Presented in 1905 at the Universal Exhibition
of Liège, the result of this order was composed of 450
pictures, a third being stereoscopic views. Entitled “The
Coalmine,” this series also gave birth to gum-bichromate
prints that became widely exhibited. Some of them also
appeared in the album entitled “Artist’s Visions.” This
portfolio reproduced in photogravure 30 pictures that
retraced Marissiaux’s career between 1899 and 1908.
The attractiveness of colour on the photographer
manifested itself not only in his use of autochrome, in
1911–1912, but also in the experimentation with the
process of a Flemish photographer, Joseph Sury. Al-
lowing coloured paper prints, this experimental process
still remains enigmatic today. Marissiaux applied it to
the nudes as well as to genre scenes and landscapes, in
the 1910s and 1920s.
Interrupted by World War I, Marissiaux’s creative
activity was bluredr in the course of the 1920s. As
Pictorialism lost steam, the death of his parents and his
wife pushed the photographer to become introspective,
and he exiled himself to Cagnes-sur-Mer, in the south
of France. He died there in 1929.
Presently, the Museum of Photography of Charleroi
preserves the work of the photographer, except the nega-
tives of the “Coalmine” series, which are deposited at
the Musée de la Vie Wallonne in Liège.
Danielle LeenaertsBiography
Gustave Marissiaux was born in 1872 in Marles-les-
Mines (France). He moved to Liège (Belgium) in 1883.
As a law student, he took up photography in 1894, and
was elected the same year to the Belgian Association
of Photography (B.A.P.). His country views denote a
symbolist infl uence. Portrait is also an important part
of his work. He not only practised it as a professional,
in the studio he opened in Liège in 1899, but also as
an artist, in numerous “Studies.” Recognized as one
of the most important Belgian Pictorialist, he not only
took part in the national Salons of the B.A.P., but also
in several European Salons. By combining photography
projection, poetry and music, he created a new form of
“total spectacle,” based on his images of Venice (1903).
A public order was addressed to Marissiaux by the
Syndicate of Coal Board. This series of stereoscopic
views entitled “The Coalmine,” and the album “Artist’s
Visions” (1908), are Marissiaux’s most well-known
works. He also elaborated a colour technique with the
collaboration of Joseph Sury, in the course of the 1910’s
and 1920’s. Exiled in Cagnes-sur-mer (in the south of
France) in 1925, he died there in 1929.
See also: Pictorialism.Further Reading
Arnould, Maurice, Delree, Henri, and Fraikin, Jean, La photo-
graphie en Wallonie, des origines à 1940 [Photography in
Walloonia, from its origins to 1940], Liège: Musée de la Vie
Wallonne, 1980.
Magelhaes, Claude, and Roosens, Laurent, L’Art de la photo-
graphie en Belgique, 1839–1940 [The Art of Photography in
Belgium, 1839–1940], Anvers: Het Sterckshof, 1970.
Melon, Marc-Emmanuel, Marissiaux. “Le mystère de la chambre
noire fermée de l’intérieur” [“Marissiaux, the mystery of the
dark room locked from the inside”], in: Clichés, no.16, mai
1985, 40–51.
——, “La photographie à Liège au XIXème siècle” [“Photogra-
phy in Liège in the 19th Century”], in: Duchesne, Jean-Pa-
trick, Vers la modernité. Le XIXème siècle au pays de Liège