Jorge Damonte
"20 years of Photographic Impressions"

Jorge Damonte was born in Argentina in 1943. Having spent his early years in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Paris, he only discovered Argentina at the age of thirteen.

His family lived in exile, on the run from military dictatorships. His father, a journalist and diplomat, was fond of painting. His brother Copi devoted his life to the theatre. As is the case for many exiles, culture and the arts were their homeland. Jorge Damonte's entire life consisted of travel and meetings, some of which were decisive.

At the age of ten, he started taking photographs with an old Polaroid camera. Six years later, the photographer and journalist Jaime Giralt Font let Jorge work at his side. It was then that he discovered the art of photographic printing. At the age of twenty six, he became a professional photographer in Buenos Aires.

In 1974, the circumstances of his life forced him to leave his country and to move to Paris. This exile was a permanent one. He became a theatrical photographer for the completion of Copi's book Eva Peron (published by Giovani Gandini in Milan).
"I often photographed Copi. He liked his characters, and often gave them his name. From the Copi of the Bal des Polices (1977) to the one of the Internationale Argentine (1983), he enjoyed the confusion which he caused".

Ten years later, after having photographed the decor created by Yves Saint Laurent for Jean Cocteau's Aigle à deux têtes, Damonte was given the privilege of photographing the creations of this renowned designer with the greatest of liberty.

"Through the constancy of his creativity, I discovered the true meaning of the words 'discretion' and 'humility'. I was in a state of constant amazement, and the same is true today when I am faced with the great work carried out by a single man. The chance to contemplate apparitions of such perfection and precision was truly a breath of fresh air".

Damonte has always produced portraits, usually of his friends among the Argentine Diaspora and in the world of the theatre.

For him, the art of photography includes everything from the initial look through the lens to the final print. The negative is just a step, and starting from there, anything is possible.

"It's in the printing that the work of the artist comes out. The idea of a single print is essential in my work"

In 1984, the Texbraun gallery in Paris put on the first exhibition of the works of Jorge Damonte.

In the last twenty years, he has never used photography as a commercial venture. His creative liberty was absolute.