Henri Cartier-Bresson’s exhibition at the Hélène & Édouard Leclerc Fund in Landerneau is sublime. Our collaborator Jean-Jacques Ader saw it and took the opportunity to do this interview of Michel-Édouard Leclerc.
An unprecedented event in this Brittany where the earth ends, and the first exhibition of photographs from the Hélène and Édouard Leclerc de Landerneau Fund, associated with the Cartier-Bresson Foundation directed by Clément Chéroux.
A foundation dedicated to modern and contemporary art, this estate of more than 1200m2 is located in the heart of the Breton’s “Far-West”, according to Michel-Édouard Leclerc (known as MEL). It is here that the first Leclerc grocery store opened in 1949. Him who carries the voice of the famous brand tells us that although the globe-trotting photographer never ventured into Finistère, is nevertheless the first to exhibit at the FHEL. It seemed obvious to MEL to focus on the entire work of Cartier-Bresson, in all its diversity.
Jean-Jacques Ader: When was your first contact with photography?
Michel-Édouard Leclerc: Thru my grandfather, who was a battlefield photographer, in 14-18. After the war he established himself as a photographer in Landerneau. He took very good photos and very early on he introduced me to development and the different baths for processing black and white images; retouching, with a range of grease pencils for retouching portraits for example. He made his living from photos of fairgrounds and weddings, but he led me to develop an artistic outlook. Besides, I was given a reflex camera at the age of eight, with the responsibility of maintaining it and developing the photos, often with him.
So have you practiced?
MEL: In any case I was passionate, and I build myself up by making images. I took a lot of photos; my journals are made up of collages, articles, and paper prints. I have a visual memory above all. Of course, the photos taken on my smartphone are classified, but it’s my memory that follows me to the cloud!
So your affinity for the arts dates from that time?
MEL: Yes, photography was a territory where I educated my artistic sense, I had the idea for a long time of opening a foundation named after my parents, but I did not particularly think of exhibiting photography there.
What was the starting point?
MEL: It was the meeting with Clément Chéroux that convinced me. My daughter Audrey, who started out in the world of photography, introduced me to the Cartier-Bresson Foundation and allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson; and Clément Chéroux’s approach appealed to me because he greatly personalized the organization of this exhibition.
How did you design the course?
MEL: As an educational and convincing approach. Clément Chéroux was open to historicizing the life of Cartier-Bresson, through sequences which show the artist’s engagement in different geographies, which are all reference points for the viewer.
Did you want to avoid the photographer’s simplification of the decisive moment?
MEL: Indeed, I do not think that this expression is sufficient or illuminating to express the richness of Cartier-Bresson’s work. Whereas, showing him in India working, and meeting Gandhi just before his assassination, then witnessing his cremation, we dive into the emotion with the reporter, and despite the photographer’s distancing we are with him. It is the activist who makes him the photojournalist of poverty, indigence, and the difficulties of living. He is also the activist who will travel through Cold War Russia and the value of his images does not come from chance. The prism of his personality allows the viewer to enter his universe; and we have distinguished the exhibition by as many universes as spaces, each of which shows us a person who practices the profession of photographer several times. From a painter we would say that he has a rich palette, from Cartier-Bresson with his themes, we see all his centers of interest and it is not a pre-cut of his photos.
In the sixties, with the emergence of the consumer society, he photographed in department stores. We can see a young couple holding each other’s shoulders, gazing at a sofa with wonder and we then understand the mechanism of seduction of consumption.
Would you say that he is less an activist than a witness of his time?
MEL: I think he is more than a witness, because, even if there is an aesthetic research in the framing, it is the subject which gives the meaning of the photo. His photo testifies, yes, but it also questions.
He also wanted to remain a photojournalist, as Capa advised him.
MEL: Yes, he has succeeded in mass distribution in art (laughs) He speaks to the public, he is a reporter and he does not get lost in technique; he has a form of distancing, when we see the two characters in Belgium, who look through a tarpaulin, he remains at a distance, he remains modest, and we see it clearly in the short film which is projected at the exhibition, he comes, he goes, he hides, he comes back, he jumps around, he is very playful with his characters.
You are a collector, do you have pictures?
MEL: No, not really, a few, but rather comic strips. I found that there was no policy of support for comic book authors in the 90s.
Otherwise, I also have a nice collection of cans of sardines… there is no difference in 6 sardines in cans in Ireland, Tangier or Cap Gris-nez, and yet, each cannery manages to differentiate itself.
So the Landerneau FHEL was not born from a collection?
MEL: No, not at all. It is an endowment fund which is dedicated to mediation. The Leclerc family does not own the Leclerc centers, my father wanted the brand to be collective. Opening a foundation in Landerneau, we asked ourselves the following question: do we promote Breton culture for tourists or do we bring the best of art to show it here? And now this choice is no longer contested when we show extraordinary exhibitions, worthy of the Center Pompidou or other art centers. Chagall for example, Picasso, Miro, the diversity of Dubuffet’s work; Dubuffet who was discovered by a public who sometimes confused him with Bernard Buffet, who often came to paint this Brittany. The goal was therefore to share all this with the people of the region, in a place that does not look like a museum (a former Capuchin Convent from 1634) and where the public comes to see what goes on.
So there is any chance of seeing photography there again?
MEL: Yes, of course, I know the photo world a little better now, and because of this event with Henri Cartier-Bresson, we already have no shortage of proposals.
By Jean-Jacques Ader
“Henri Cartier-Bresson”, exhibition at the Hélène & Édouard Leclerc Fund for Culture in Landerneau (with the Henri Cartier-Bresson foundation) until January 5, 2025. Information: https://www.fonds-culturel-leclerc.fr/
Publication of a beautiful book by the FHEL for Culture, bringing together all the images presented. https://www.henricartierbresson.org/publications/11971/
Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc pour la Culture
Aux Capucins
29800 Landerneau
www.fonds-culturel-leclerc.fr
