In 1992, Jean-François Bauret, using the very rare large format photographic camera – 20 by 24 – created by Polaroid, produced in the South-West of France, in the small town of Muret, an astonishing series of portraits of some of its inhabitants. These portraits taken in the studio with a black background whose figures stand out clearly, present these strangers posing very simply, from the front, with attributes characterizing them. A lady with one of the doves she sells at the market or a player with his cards and chips for example. Thus forming a gallery of portraits like so many paintings of the members of an astonishing family, the images are impressive for the warmth and power of the colors characteristic of the Polaroid process, as well as by the size, almost life-size, which places the viewer directly in front of the character who often looks at him. These images are surprisingly reminiscent of Flemish painting that J-F Bauret was particularly fond of.
The photographs are also striking in their choice of subjects. Shown with solemnity and yet tenderness, the models all have something strange, like Lynch characters, something that J-F Bauret managed to capture with accuracy and a profoundly human look, characteristic of his great talent as a portraitist, which seems to delicately expose the personality of his models.
The Javault – Eva Pritsky gallery will present from Thursday November 9 to Sunday December 3 part of the exhibition which was shown for the first time at the Arles photographic Rencontres in 1992.
Galerie Javault – Eva Pritsky
5 rue d’Eupatoria
75020 Paris
www.galeriejavault.com
