Antoine Depardon beside his stove in the Rhone. Louis Brès taking out two of his animals in Lozère. Paul Argaud in his kitchen in Haute-Loire…In the trail of the great American photographers of rural life, Raymond Depardon gives to see peasant France, in its raw truth, simple, direct. With the greatest respect, without cheating: using a large format camera. With a very personal approach, like a deconstruction game. Through his art of framing, the photographer “keep the country” in check, “carving it and explaining , rebuilding as he pleases in a vast series of concordances and echoes,” says Bruno Racine, president of the National Library of France, in his preface to “Raymond Depardon’s France” (Seuil, 2010). The underlying theme, a common history of French rurality that underscores writings signed by the photographer, far from the personal situations of each of the farmers he met.
At Château Palmer, this unique geography is displayed through 38 photographs dating from 1960 to 2007 and 4 texts. As many set of writing that attest to Raymond Depardon’s deep attachment to “The Land of the Peasants”.
Raymond Depardon
“My parents knew beforehand that I would not take over the farm, they were overwhelmed by my determination and passion for photography. ”
At age 16, Raymond Depardon leaves the family farm of Garet, near Villefranche-sur-Saône, to be a photographer in Paris. But the attachment remained.
Nearly 30 years of reportages around the world, with the photo agencies Dalmas, Gamma then Magnum, did not change anything. The feeling of abandonment of his native land and, beyond that, of the French peasants obsessed him.
In 1984, an assignment from DATAR (Interministerial Delegation for Territorial Planning and Regional Attractiveness) marks the beginning of a very personal adventure: photographing rural France. Followed by a book “La Ferme du Garet” (Carré, 1995) and a trilogy of feature films “Peasant Profiles” (from 2000 to 2008) and, finally, a new book “The Land of Peasants” (Seuil, 2008). Since then, France, its territory, its inhabitants remain one of the favorite subjects of the photographer and filmmaker.
Raymond Depardon – La Terre des Paysans
from September 8th to December 21st 2018
Château Palmer
33460 Margaux
