From his early travels in India and Egypt to his exploration of the Southwest as part of a mission for DATAR mission, a national organization which oversees land use and development, the work of Pierre de Fenoÿl is being rediscovered in a new book from Xavier Barral and a retrospective at the Jeu de Paume — Château de Tours, immortalizing the historical and sacred memories of the places that Fenoÿl photographed. The book features texts by Peter Galassi, Virginie Chardin and Jacques Damez.
In 1982, Hachette published Chefs d’œuvre des photographes anonymes aux XIX siècle, an album of 166 photographs selected by Pierre de Fenoÿl from the collection of Jean Henry. An essay by Peter Galassi explores the book’s contribution to the recognition of the aesthetic value of vernacular (even if not always anonymous) photography by considering related books of the period, including John Szarkowski, The Photographer’s Eye (1966); Volker Kahmen, Photography as Art (1973); Sam Wagstaff, A Book of Photographs (1978); Bruce Bernard, Photodiscovery (1980); and Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, Evidence (1977).
Here is an excerpt from the book Pierre de Fenoÿl. Une géographie imaginaire. (Éditions Xavier Barral, 2015):
For the first issue of the magazine Photographies in the spring of 1983, Fenoÿl wrote an essay on “anonymous” photography, where he concluded that the aesthetic power of photography resided in, “its unique ability to capture, to bring the invisible into the domain of the visible. Every photograph is anonymous as long as this element of chance is in play that makes its impossible to attribute the paternity of an image to the actions of the photographer.”
Peter Galassi
EXHIBITION
Pierre de Fenoÿl (1945-1987). An imaginary geography
From June 20th to October 31st, 2015
Jeu de Paume – Château de Tours
25 avenue André Malraux
37000 Tours
France
+33 (0)2 47 21 61 95
Tuesday – Sunday 2pm – 6pm
Free Entrance
http://www.jeudepaume.org
BOOK
« Pierre de Fenoÿl. An imaginary geography »
Texts by Virginie Chardin, Jacques Damez, Peter Galassi.
Éditions Jeu de Paume / Xavier Barral.
240 pages 24 x 28 cm
144 photographs
Price : 50 euros
ISBN : 9782365110730
http://exb.fr
UPCOMING
Pierre de Fenoÿl Paysages conjugués
From September 5 to December 31st, 2015
Galerie Le Réverbère
38 Rue Burdeau
69001 Lyon
France
Tél. : +33 (0)4 72 00 06 72
http://www.galerielereverbere.com
