Iconographer, curator, art buyer, founder of the Galerie Rencontre and the Agence Vu (now Viva), Pierre de Fenoÿl was appointed, in 1976, the first director of France’s National Photography Foundation, then advisor to the Centre Pompidou’s photography department. Pierre was extremely talented. I spent a lot of time with him in the 1970s and early ‘80s. For a while, he was even a New York correspondent for the magazine Photo, where he made friends with Jean-Paul Goude and became his model before joining the Fondation André Kertesz and helped transmit the photographer’s work in France. We shared a mentor, Roméo Martinez. Pierre objected to the foundation’s establishment in Lyon instead of Paris. He was right, but it cost him his job, thanks to those miserable frogs at the Ministry of Culture. Pierre went on to curate an exhibition bringing together the work of Burk Uzzle, Duane Michals and Leslie Krims, and releasing a book about the unknown collector Jean Henri, whose collections have disappeared. Pierre, bitter, returned to the photography he worshipped. He left Paris behind and died of a heart attack in 1987 at age 42.
His wife Véronique, his daughter Aliette, Jeu de Paume curator Virginie Chardin, Yseult Chehata of Editions Xavier Barral, Peter Galassi, Richard Kalvar, Bernard Plossu and Bruno Requillard helped us put this day together. We owe them our thanks.
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
