Following his trip to India, Pierre de Fenoÿl Founded, with Charles-Henri Favrod, the agency vu (which became viva), whose members included William Klein, Edouard Boubat, Guy le Querrec, Hervé Gloaguen, Claude Raimond-Dityvon, Martine Frank and Richard Kalvar.
He also opened the gallery Rencontre, where he showed the work of Brassaï, Tony Ray-Jones, Martine Frank and Édouard Boubat, but the adventure would come to an end in June 1971. A spell as art buyer at Publicis got him noticed, then Michel Guy, secretary of state for cultural affairs, put him in charge of preparing the opening exhibitions of the Centre Pompidou and supervising the photographic section of the visual arts department. He then appointed him director of the Fondation Nationale de la Photographie, which organised numerous exhibitions in 1976 and 1977, including “Burz Uzzle-Duane Michales-Les Krims”, “French Photography 1975–1976”, “Trois Jeunes Photographes: Bruno, Kalvar, Plossu”, “Édouard Boubat” and above all “André Kertész” at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, which would be in part the source of an important donation by the photographer to the French state.
When the Fondation moved to Lyon, Pierre de Fenoÿl returned to the Centre Pompidou as an advisor on photography. With Alain Sayag, he exhibited young photographers such as Bruno Réquillart, Arnaud Claass, Yves Guillit, Jacques Minassian, Richard Misrach and Tom Drahos at the “Salon Photo”. He oversaw the publication of a first Album Photographique linking 19th-century authors with contemporary photographers. His missions ended in 1980 as a result of internal reorganisation.
He started photographing with a Leica again, very early in the morning, a time when the city is deserted. He walked the streets, bridges and riverbanks of Paris, capturing landscapes devoid of any figures. Away from the hubbub, he was inspired by the contemplation and the silence, which enabled him to expand his field of vision. He did not seek assignments, but rather followed a personal and initiatory course through photography.
With Yvon Le Marlec, a specialist in old techniques who became a printer for great photographers, he began to work on his images, endowing them with a rather dark quality that gave them a slightly timeless feel. Pierre de Fenoÿl favoured prints of his photographs that were marked by strong contrasts and inky, coal- dark tones, with dense blacks in the shadows, making them seem out of time and detached from their reality. It is often impossible to tell whether his Paris landscapes were taken at dawn or nightfall, with some of the prints suggesting a day for night effect. His influences ranged across the history of photography. Some of his pictures call to mind Baldus, Marville, Atget and the pictorialist school of the early 20th century, while others can be linked to the contemporary works of Richard Kalvar, Keichi Tahara, Arnaud Claass and even Lewis Baltz.
His work garnered the support of leading critics and historians such as Bernard Lamarche-Vadel and Jean-François Chevrier, the Texbraun and Zabriskie galleries, and by the writer and critic Hervé Guibert.
This room contains numerous period documents, as well as 15 modern and vintage prints.
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
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
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
