The exhibition will feature a series taken by Raoul Coutard during his tenure as Director of Photography for Indochina, South East Asia (Decembre 1951 – July 1954). He is one of the few rare photographers to have captured portraits of the minorities in the High Plains.
Raoul Coutard began working as a cameraman for the French Army while stationed in Indochina during the war. He had previously been working as a photographer for Radar, Life, and Paris Match magazines.
Coutard was a fervent opponent of the “Harcourt” style that dominated the industry towards the end of the 1950’s. “I came with bad habits after working as a photo reporter. I loved working fast and furious. The pretty, the “polished” were repulsive to me”. (Quoted from The Truffaut Dictionary, La Martinière, 2004).
It was in Indochina that he met Pierre Schoendoerffer, becoming his chief cameraman for his earliest feature films. Later, he worked with Jean-Luc Godard in his 1959 Breathless, then with Jacques Demy for Lola (1961), his first feature in Cinemascope, and especially with François Truffaut from 1960 – 1967. From 1968, he worked with illustrious directors including Costa-Gavras, Edouard Molinaro, Nagisa Oshima, and Philippe Garrel.
The same sun, Raoul Coutard, Indochine 1945-1954
Until january 16
Musée Nicéphore Niepce
28, quai des messageries
71100 Chalon-sur-Saône
Tél : 03 85 48 41 98
http://www.museeniepce.com/
