The internationally renowned fine art photographer, author, educator and filmmaker, Lucien Clergue (b. Arles France, 1934) is the subject of an exhibit at Throckmorton Fine Art, titled "Homage." The exhibit includes more than thirty rare and vintage images spanning his entire career. The exhibit is in honor and celebration of Clergue’s 80th Birthday.

According to Spencer Throckmorton, "There is no singular talent with as legendary and iconic a history as Lucien Clergue. His work has been associated with some of France's most significant artists, intellectuals, and musicians including Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Roland Barthes, and the Gypsy Kings. His contributions to the development and popularization of French photographic art have been extraordinary by any measure."

Clergue discovered the power of the camera in his difficult adolescence after witnessing the destruction of his family's house by WWII bombs, and the prolonged illness and death of his mother. His later work turned to organic abstractions of sand and lace, and was influenced by mythology, adventure and what he calls, 'the mentality of the Mediterranean man.' Clergue's work has been exhibited worldwide in more than 100 solo exhibitions and is included in the collections of many major museums and the most discerning private collectors. He was the first photographer to be elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de France, and was honored with both the Order of Merit in 1980, and the Order of the Legion of Honor, in 2003. In 2013 Clergue chaired the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France. He is also a member of the Arles Academy of Arts, holds a Ph.D., and is the author of 75 books. Clergue was the first photographer to present a thesis with photographs only, no hand writing, he wrote with light only.

Kraige Block, Executive Director of Throckmorton Fine Art says, "Clergue is best known for his female nude torsos from the mid- 1950s-70s. He photographed nudes in the woods, on desert sands, in sea waves, and on Paris and New York streets, emphasizing body shapes by the play of light and shade. In his travels Clergue developed the theme with different models, opening workshops in various cities. His devotion to this theme has won him scandalous reputation with the Fidel Castro administration barred him from visiting Cuba in 2001."

In 1953, leaving the Arles bullfighting arena, Lucien Clergue summoned his courage and approached the then 62 year old Pablo Picasso to show him his photographs. Clergue worked for the next two years to prepare a portfolio to impress the master. His photos of Provence and postwar ruins led to a five hour conversation with Picasso in Cannes in 1955 when Picasso promised to design a cover for Clergue's first book as well as a poster for his first exhibition. While the poster was too provocative for the organizers to use, this meeting resulted in a lifelong friendship until Picasso's death.

Clergue absorbed much from the artists and patrons who mentored and supported him through the decades, and his talents evolved to include virtually all the visual arts from photography and film-making to Television productions, stage and set design and textile design. He has also taught at such institutions as the New School of Social Research; conducted countless workshops on photographic technique, particularly dealing with the nude; published a number of art volumes and been the subject of many museum catalogs. In 1969 Lucien Clergue established the Recontres Internationales de la Photographie at Arles, which is considered one of the most important art festivals in the world.

Lucien Clergue is married to the art curator Yolande Clergue, founder of The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles and he is the father of two daughters: Anne Clergue (a curator of contemporary art) and Olivia Clergue (a handbag fashion designer whose godfather was Pablo Picasso).

Anne Clergue says, "Lucien Clergue's world is haunted by Eros and Thanatos, a world in which life and death are ever holding arms and frolicking. From the dead animals abandoned by the Rhone river to the gypsies and naked bodies in the sea, from the dead bulls to the sands of the Camargue, Clergue reveals a world of signs that we are often unable to distinguish by ourselves. He opens the door of an imaginary world, which only belongs to himself. Attentive to the unseen, he makes it sensible and visible.

Throckmorton Fine Art

145 East 57th Street 3rd floor
New York (NY) 10022 United States
Tel. +1 (212) 2231059
info@throckmorton-nyc.com
www.throckmorton-nyc.com

Opening hours

Tuesday - Saturday
From 11am to 5pm

Related images
  1. Lucien Clergue, Nu de la mer, Camargue, ca. 1966, Gelatin silver print
  2. Lucien Clergue, Dressed in light (detail), Santa Barbara, CA, 2002, Gelatin silver print
  3. Lucien Clergue, Picasso on the beach (detail), Cannes, ca. 1965, Gelatin silver print