Lucien Clergue

1934-2014

French (Europe, France, Arles)

Born of modest background in the southern French city of Arles in 1934, Clergue discovered photography at age 15. His first book, Corps mémorable, was published in 1957 and was accompanied by poems of the Surrealist Paul Éluard, an introduction by Cocteau, and a cover by Picasso. He published more than 75 books in France, USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, England, Spain, Canada, and directed about 20 short films. His documentary Delta del Sel was selected in 1968 at Festival de Cannes and received an Oscar. His best-known works were his nude images and landscapes, and he was the first photographer to be admitted to the elite Academie Francaise, the guardian of the French language. "His first photos won the enthusiasm of Picasso, with whom he founded an unwavering friendship," French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said in a statement. In 1969 Clergue co-founded Les Rencontres d'Arles, a series of photo exhibitions that run from mid-July to mid-September in his hometown and attracts thousands of tourists each year. "France, the home of photography, has lost one of its greatest ambassadors who carried this art to the four corners of the world," said former French culture minister Jack Lang.

The light in his work is usually hot, smooth and trembling; as in his photos of dying bulls, Gypsies dancing in the heat, and beautiful women rolling nude on the beach. Through his choice of subject, and his compositional astuteness, he defeated the coldness of capture technology with its mechanical apparatus of metallic parts, polished glass, and chemicals — and wrenches out something of the southern Mediterranean sun, the rapture of the warm life of daydreams, despair, lull, love, and yearning.

Remembering French Photographer Lucien Clergue, a Giant of the Field by Joseph Nechvatal on November 17, 2014  Hyperallergic Newsletter