Until June 13th, the Parisian gallery Durev exhibits Guy Le Querrec.
This is the first time he is showing his color images.
On this occasion, Guy Bourreau, the initiator of this exhibition sent us the following text:
April 2019
New York, more precisely Brooklyn and its museum in which is organized an exhibition of photographs by Gary Winogrand soberly entitled “Colors”: the shock and the wonder of discovering unpublished color photos of this founder of street photography whose only black and white work had been seen so far.
May 2019
The echo of this exhibition in mind and a question: could it be that Guy Le Querrec, friend, author and accomplice of the book and exhibitions “Guy Le Querrec in Brittany”, also has unseen color photographs ? After all, many photographers who, like him, have shown a natural appetite for photography in black and white, have taken color photographs at the same time to respond to assignments or possible magazine publications or even, more simply, because some of the subjects “called” for color.
July 2020
Guy’s agreement for a first exploratory visit to his color archives on the express condition that I do not ask him, in any case not more than reasonably, and that I do my business and deep dive and make a selection from the thousands of Kodachromes who are just waiting for my eye to be spotted.
Guy Le Querrec gives me “carte blanche for color”.
July 2020 – January 2021
Several days of viewing on the light table and a double feeling that drives me: the first, that of traveling through the life of a photographer by rediscovering, in color this time, some of the themes that made him famous, the jazz of course, Brittany, Africa, the Mayol concert but also highlighting other little or less known themes that I invite you to discover in this exhibition. The second, the pleasure quite simply of having seen correctly by sensing that Guy Le Querrec possesses the same powerful photographic writing (composition, framing, capture of movements, etc.) in color as in black and white and had been able to take into account the component color in each of these dimensions.
This search for photographic writing was the basis for the selection of the photographs presented. Good connoisseurs of the work of Guy Le Querrec will find here, in color this time, photographs that will evoke their sisters in black and white, but they will also discover, with happiness I hope, many photographs that have never been seen before.
2022 – 2023
It is finally possible to share this photographic treasure with my friends Annie Boulat, Jean François Camp and Dominique Gaessler. The production of a book and an exhibition has been decided.
A story of friendship
Guy Le Querrec brought Gary Winogrand to Paris in 1982, thus contributing to the discovery of his work in France. I see an amusing nod to history in that Gary Winogrand contributes indirectly from his beyond to make people discover today the color work of his friend Guy Le Querrec.
In fact, this whole story is also a story of friendship.
Guy Bourreau
Lanildut, February 27, 2023
Of Breton origins, but born in Paris on May 12, 1941, Guy Le Querrec began photography at the age of 14 and became a professional at 26. He started in a small advertising agency “Atelier 3” located rue Daguerre in Paris.
In 1969, he was hired by Jeune Afrique as a photographer reporter and head of the photo department. For 2 years, he traveled through French-speaking Black Africa and the Maghreb countries. Then, in 1971, he joined the Vu agency, directed by Pierre de Fenoÿl, and the following year co-founded the Viva agency, which he left in 1975.
In 1976, he joined the Magnum agency for which he produced numerous reportages, on the Concert Mayol in Paris, on subjects in China, Africa, on the Indians of North America. From 1977 to 1985, a close collaboration with the sculptor Daniel Druet notably led him to the Élysée Palace for ten posing sessions with President François Mitterrand. In 1998, he won the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris.
Music, and especially jazz, which he has been frequenting since the 1960s, occupies an important place in his work. His photographs constitute a regular and dense chronicle of the universe of musicians, their gestures, their cadences, their relationships and their sets, both on stage, in concert, or in rehearsal, as well as backstage, on trips. , in process of creation and life. He will go so far as to create Jazz shows during the International Photography Meetings in Arles and participates in around thirty documentary films on Jazz.
His training in Jazz influenced the photography of Guy Le Querrec. He views everyday scenes as a musical score, played or activated by natural forces. The rays of the sun in a cafe can be a shout or a trumpet call; Spanish workers resting at the edge of a limestone quarry are musical notations in a solo piece.
Le Querrec has also devoted a lot of time to giving workshops and courses in France and other countries. He has regularly exhibited all over the world. 2016, the book “Guy Le Querrec in Brittany” was published.
Guy Le Querrec : Kind of Color
from May 16 to June 13, 2023
Galerie Durev
56, Bld de la Tour-Maubourg
75007 Paris
www.durev.com
