A Tribute to Claudine and Jean-Pierre Sudre

Jean-Pierre Sudre was an artist, a photograph and a teacher whose world was singularly, radically poetic. Along with Jean Dieuzaide, Denis Brihat and others, he passionately defended the importance of the autonomy of photography as an art form at a time when it was not fully recognized as such. He died last September.

We have decided to pay tribute to him by presenting works acquired by the Maison Européenne de la Photographie and others entrusted to the MEP by Jean-Pierre Sudre in 1995. The exhibition takes us into the very heart of the artist's world and provides a fascinating insight into his creative development, which was determined by his uncompromising eye and his multi-facetted approach. The selection shown here includes still lifes, woodland scenes, and a set of pictures made up of natural elements and landscapes, as well as his "Paysages Matériographiques" and the series entitled "Apocalypse" (unique pieces produced in 1968 and shown at the La Demeure art gallery in 1969). The pictures constitute an anthology of the landscapes he invented using particular materials and original processes.

The work and career of Jean-Pierre Sudre cannot be dissociated from those of his wife, Claudine. For almost 40 years she worked with him on his prints. She is also one of the greatest experts on 19th century photographic printing processes that had been all but forgotten by the 1970s. The first part of the exhibition shows prints Claudine Sudre made from original plates of Nadar portraits between 1978 and 1985, using these early processes.

The Galerie Jean-Pierre Lambert is showing the series entitled "Imaginaire Planétaire" by Jean-Pierre Sudre from 20 May to 20 June 1998.

Jean-Pierre Sudre 1986