Léonard Misonne's Photographs that Don't Look Like Photographs

Belgian photographer Léonard Misonne (1870-1943) was best known for taking photographs that look like paintings. He somehow found trees that look just like the trees in Romantic landscapes and clouds that looked just like painted clouds and photographed them in a dreamy way. It took me quite a bit of staring to convince myself that Stormy Weather (1924) really is a photograph, but it is.

Sometimes his photographs were even printed on grainy paper that enhanced the illusion of brush strokes, as in this example.

This amazing work, Leaving Namur Station (1938) is what first drew me to Misonne. Brings out the apocalyptic side of twentieth-century industry.

And a bunch more.