Bernard Faucon (born September 12, 1950) is a French photographer and writer. He first established a career in art photography and has exhibited widely around the world.

Biography

Faucon was born in

Apt Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...

, in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He attended the '' lycée'' in Apt, then studied at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, graduating in Philosophy in 1973. Until 1977 he worked as a fine art painter, and thereafter discovered photography. His photographic work expresses a love of youth and dreamy beauty, using saturated colour, natural settings, rooms, and often

tableaux The International Conference on Automated Reasoning with Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods (TABLEAUX) is an annual international academic conference that deals with all aspects of automated reasoning with analytic tableaux. Periodically, it jo ...

mannequin A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. P ...

s. His major photographic series are, in date-order: ''Les Grandes Vacances'' (1977–1981); ''Evolution probable du Temps'' (1981–1984); ''Les Chambres d'amour'' (1987–1989); ''Les Idoles et les Sacrifices'' (1989–1991); ''Les écritures'' (1991–1993); and ''La Fin de L'image'' (1993–1995). Faucon has won numerous awards from his work, including the Grand Prix National (1989) and the Prix Leonard de Vinci (1991). Since 1977 he has had nearly 300 solo exhibitions, many held outside France. He developed a popular following in Japan in particular. In 1997 Faucon decided to cease his photography practice. In 1999 he published his first book of writing, ''La peur du voyage'' (The Fear of Travel). He is represented by the French agency Agence Vu. The mannequins which he had frequently used in his photographs were acquired by th
Nanasai Company
and are held in its corporate art collection in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, Japan. In 2002, the

Moscow House of Photography The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (MAMM; russian: link=no, Мультимедиа Арт Музей, Москва) is a Russian state museum dedicated to the presentation and development of contemporary art related to new multimedia technologies ...

in Russia held a Bernard Faucon Festival. Two years later, he was invited to officially open th
Moscow Biennale

Books and films

Almost all of Faucon's photography books have been published in

or Japan. The most recent and most available retrospective of his photographs is ''Jours d'Image, 1977-1995''. Most of his books are out-of-print. A documentary about him was made, entitled ''Bernard Faucon: Fables'' (1992), directed by Jean Real. It is a 44-minute film. ''Les grandes vacances, une vie de Bernard Faucon'' (2009) directed by Camille Ponsin and written by Arthur Dreyfus, is displayed as a permanent exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu, which was inaugurated in the same year.

Critical essays

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

. "The Illuminations of Bernard Faucon" (IN: ''

The Georgia Review ''The Georgia Review'' is a literary journal based in Athens, Georgia. Founded at University of Georgia in 1947, the journal features poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, and visual art. The journal has won National Magazine Awards for Fiction ...

'', Winter 2002).

Influence

References

External links

Official site

Faucon portfolio
Agence Vu
Bernard Faucon Festival in Moscow
2002

Holden Luntz Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faucon, Bernard 1950 births Living people University of Paris alumni French photographers