Lucien Clergue
French
Lucien Clergue was born in 1934 in Arles, an ancient port city in France. Clergue began taking photographs in 1953—at the early age of nineteen. Clergue’s photographs have been widely exhibited, including a legendary show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1961, which was the last exhibit organized by Edward Steichen. While the main ambition of this artist’s life was to firmly establish the importance of photography within the canons of art history, the oeuvre of Lucien Clergue remains liberated from the constraints of any established movement. Under the direction of Alfred Barr, MoMA was the first public art institution to establish a department dedicated to photography in 1940. A radical development in contrast to France where antiquated values of photography limited its recognition, especially in public institutions. In fact, the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris would not distinguish photography as an art form until 2006, with the induction of Clergue as their first photographer. Despite being pursued by esteemed fashion magazines throughout his career, Clergue would adamantly refuse well-paid assignments. Nothing could divert his attention from his higher calling, artistically expressing himself through his lens.
Although rooted in the stylistic doctrines of Surrealism and Modernism, Clergue’s continued experimentation sought to renew the power of photography through his thoughtful creations that captured his undying commitment to represent beauty. Progressively, Clergue would redefine the potential of this medium and what it could become by exposing its ability to exalt life. Never pigeonholed into a single aesthetic, Clergue continuously experimented with his practice, pushing boundaries to uncharted territories within the medium of photography. Heralded by the New York Times, his obituary would read “Master and Promoter of Art Photography”, a fair assessment considering his establishment of the largest international photography festival Les Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles (founded in 1970), a wordless doctoral dissertation from the University of Provence (1979), and an Academy Award nomination for his short film Delta de Sel. Photography as an art form was uplifted and championed by Lucien Clergue, whose expressions in the medium will demand more from the next generation behind the lens.
| 1934 | Born in Arles, France on August 14, 1934, the only child of a grocer. From the age of seven takes violin lessons. |
| 1944 | One third of the city of Arles was destroyed by Allied bombing, including the Clergue family home. |
| 1949 | Takes a serious interest in photography. |
| 1952 | Death of his mother. Leaves school to work in a food processing factory in Arles. Meets the writer Jean-Marie Magnan, who remained a close friend and a permanent supporter. |
| 1953 | First meeting with Picasso, in Arles. For the first time has a photograph published in the local newspaper Le Provençal. |
| 1954 | Production of his first photographic series: images of Jean Renoir’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (performed in the Arena at Arles to mark the 2000th anniversary of the city’s founding), and Ruines, an exploration of the surviving war damage in Arles. Also starts working on the series Saltimbanques. |
| 1955 | Visits Picasso in his studio in Cannes, France. |
| 1956 | First meeting with Jean Cocteau, in Paris. Starts work on the series Nudes, posing his models on the beaches of the Camargue, France. |
| 1957 | Publication of his first book of photographs: Corps mémorable, with poems by Paul Eluard, cover designed by Picasso, with an introductory poem by Jean Cocteau. Through Cocteau, Clergue meets Max Ernst, who buys a series of Clergue’s images of dead flamingos, thereby becoming the first collector of Clergue’s work. Meets Cartier-Bresson in Arles. |
| 1958 | Clergue’s first exhibition opens at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Zurich, Switzerland. |
| 1959 | Guest photographer on Jean Cocteau’s film Le Testament d’Orphée. On December 31, Clergue leaves his job at the factory and becomes a freelance photographer. |
| 1960 | The photographer Edward Steichen acquires ten works by Clergue for the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. |
| 1961 | Takes part in the last exhibition organized by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Diogenes with a Camera Number 5. Clergue’s film stills are included in the book version of Le Testament d’Orphée, which also has Cocteau’s dialogue from the film. |
| 1962 | Stays in Brasilia, Brazil, as a guest of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. Meets Marcel Breuer and Edgar Varese. |
| 1963 | Marries Yolande Wartel. Birth of daughter Anne. Prepares a set design for the ballet Le fils de l’air by Cocteau to mark the re-opening of the Munich Opera. The project is abandoned due to Cocteau’s death. Travels to India. The Paris fashion designer Givenchy produces a collection of scarves with motifs taken from Clergue’s photographs. |
| 1965 | Meets the poet Saint-John Perse. Takes photographs in the marshes of the Camargue. Makes his first film, Le drame du taureau. Initiates a photographic department at the Musée Réattu, Arles. |
| 1966 | Birth of Clergue’s second daughter, Olivia, with Picasso as her godfather. Clergue wins the “Louis Lumière” prize for his film Le drame du taureau. |
| 1968 | Clergue makes the film Picasso, War, Love and Peace for the series Museum Without Walls produced by Universal Pictures. Delta de Sel is shown at the Cannes Film Festival and is nominated for an Academy Award. |
| 1969 | Serves as Art Director at the Arles Festival. Is co-founder of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles with Jean-Maurice Rouquette and Michel Tournier. |
| 1970 | Makes first photographs of the series Nudes in the Wood. |
| 1973 | Death of Picasso |
| 1974 | Invites Ansel Adams to the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles. Clergue is elected a member of the Académie in Arles. |
| 1975 | Takes the first photographs of the series Nudes in the City (Paris and New York). Also starts photographing in color. The Centre National d’Art Contemporain, which will become the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris acquires sixty photographs from the series Langage des sables for its collection. |
| 1979 | Completes a doctorate in photography at the Université de Provence, Marseille, at the recommendation of Roland Barthes. |
| 1980 | Presented with the decoration “Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite” by French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. |
| 1981 | Takes his first photographs in Death Valley. Makes his first experiments with a Polaroid camera. As part of the event marking the centenary of the birth of Picasso, he lectures on the artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
| 1982 | In Monterey, California for Ansel Adams’ 80th birthday, Clergue presents him with the decoration “Commandeur de l’Ordre National des Arts et Lettres”. |
| 1985 | First retrospective exhibition in the United States, organized by the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, curated by Robert Sobieszek. Produces his first large- scale Polaroid photographs (20 x 24 inches) in Boston. |
| 1986 | At the Foto Fietsa in Higeshikawa, Japan, Clergue is awarded “Photographer of the Year.” A retrospective exhibition at Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt, Germany. Lectures and gives an homage to Picasso at the Villa Medicis, Rome. |
| 1987 | Photographs artist Karel Appel creating a ballet to be performed in Paris. Retrospective at the Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki. First exhibition of his color photographs at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. |
| 1988 | Organizes a fashion show in the 2000-year-old Théâtre Antique d’Arles, celebrating the five-year anniversary of the Christian Lacroix Company. |
| 1992 | The French National Fund for Contemporary Art (FNAC) purchases 8 silver prints. |
| 1993 | Takes portrait photographs of Jackie Onassis in the Camargue and Umberto Eco in Arles. |
| 1994 | Donation of ten photographs to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, by a private collector. The Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris acquires six images of the series Surimpressions tauromachiques. |
| 1996 | His photographs of the bullfighter Cristina Sanchez are published in numerous magazines and newspapers: Paris Match, Stern, Sunday Mirror, Life, Vogue and American Photo. |
| 1997 | Important retrospective exhibition of 40 years of work given at the California Museum of Photography, Riverside, California, curated by Jonathan Green. |
| 2002 | Exhibition of photographic portraits of Picasso in Picasso’s former Paris studio at 7 Rue des Grands Augustins. The Musée des Beaux-Arts, Vitoria, Spain, acquires a collection of Clergue’s work. |
| 2003 | Presented with the decoration “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” by French president Jacques Chirac. |
| 2005 | Awarded the Lucie Award for the “Outstanding Life Achievement in Fine Arts in Photography.” |
| 2006 | Retrospectives at L.A,Ca at Galerie Louis Stern. |
| 2007 | Retrospectives at Espace Van Gogh, Arles (France), in Vienne at the KunstHaus (Autriche) in Münster and Erlangen (Germany). |
| 2009 | Major exhibitions: “Picasso intimate” at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood (USA), in Arles (France) “Les Gitans et leur Prince José Reyes” at Palais de l’Archevêché, in Aix en Provence (France) “Picasso chez Cézanne” at Atelier Cézanne and Cité du Livre, at Musée Marmottan in Paris (France) “Lucien Clergue-Yann Athus Bertrand, Deux Photographes Académiciens”. |
| 2013-14 | President of l’Académie des Beaux-Arts. |
| 2014 | First retrospective exhibition in Canada at Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, ON. |
Notable Public Collections
| Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France |
| Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL |
| Bühl Foundation, New York, NY |
| Cabinet des Estampes à Genève, Geneva, Switzerland |
| Centre Pompidou, Paris, France |
| Dortmund Art Museum, Dortmund, Germany |
| École Nationale de la Photographie, Arles, France |
| Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA |
| Fondation National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France |
| Galeria de la Foto, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| George Eastman House, Rochester, NY |
| Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland |
| La Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France |
| Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA |
| Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY |
| Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan |
| Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France |
| Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Musée Picasso, Paris, France |
| Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX |
| Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
| Museum of Modern Art of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Museum of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA |
| National Gallery of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON |
| Oxford College Collection, Oxford, England |
| Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA |
| Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France |
| Preus Fotomuseum, Horten, Norway |
| Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA |
| Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. |
| Victoria Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
| 2014 | Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, ON |
| Throckmorton Gallery, New York, NY | |
| 2013 | Musée Yves Brayer, Les-Baux-de-Provence, France |
| Centre Culturel Français, Madrid, Spain | |
| Musée Jean Cocteau, Menton, France | |
| 2012 | Chris Beetles Gallery, London, England |
| 2011 | Maison de la photographie, Moscow, Russia |
| French Institute, New York, NY | |
| 2010 | Artmia Foundation, Bejing, China |
| Palais de l’Archevêché, Arles, France | |
| 2006 | Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA |
| 2004 | Recontres Internationales de la Photographie, Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France |
| 2002 | Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes, France |
| 1999 | Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Dortmund, Germany |
| 1997 | Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France |
| UCR California Museum of Photography, CA | |
| Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| Musée Paul Eluard, Paris, France | |
| 1993 | FNAC, Paris, France |
| Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI | |
| 1988 | International Photo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1987 | Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France |
| Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland | |
| 1986 | ICP, New York, NY |
| Photo Fiesta, Higeshikawa, Japan | |
| 1985 | George Eastman House, Rochester, NY |
| 1984 | Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France |
| French Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel | |
| 1980 | Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France |
| 1978 | Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| Photographic Center, Melbourne, Australia | |
| 1974 | Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium |
| Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel | |
| Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany | |
| 1969 | Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1963 | Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich, Switzerland |
| 1962 | Pavillion de Marsan, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France |
| 1958 | Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich, Switzerland |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2013-15 | Art Toronto, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON |
| 2003 | Echec et succès en créativité, organized by Creando, Interlaken, Switzerland |
| 1999 | The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) Exhibition, New York, NY |
| 1998 | Paris Photo, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France |
| 1990 | Galerie Lieberman and Saul, New York, NY |
| 1979 | New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA |
| 1978 | Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1961 | Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
| 1958 | Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
