Bernard
Faucon

Bernard Faucon

biography

French photographer and visual artist, born in 1950.

After studying philosophy and theology, Bernard Faucon became one of the first artists to explore the world of photographic staging.

His work, begun in 1976, is articulated in seven major series of “true fictions” over which he declines “an approach to time in the context of photography and life that investigates the feeling behind contrived settings, the deceits of photography in its relation to reality, and its manipulation of truth and forgery, which confronts the medium’s limits and defies them.” (Christian Caujolle)

After his “The end of the image ” series, he decides in 1996 to stop his personal photographic production, convinced that regarding the history of photography “the step of staging is the swan song of the medium, the last step before the reign of pure, digital, advertising image”. He then changed the eye focusing the lens and developed from 1997 to 2003 the event “The most beautiful day of my youth” which involves hundreds of young people from 25 countries around the world.

While “all the photographs have been taken, (and) those that have not yet been taken are currently taken by the millions of lenses that record everything, anonymously, throughout the world”, he wonders what remains “to the photographer who has not exhausted his pleasure of seeing”. With “The Time after” series, he collects images far from any photographic intentionality to build new sensations of seeing.

From 2000 onwards, the words that were present in his work from the beginning definitely take precedence over the images, with collections of poetic texts, such as “La peur du voyage” or “Été 2550”, up to his current work in progress: “Les Routes”, an auto-biography (car biography!), an endless film mixing stories and roads.

Winner of the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1989, Bernard Faucon is exhibited worldwide, notably at Léo Castelli in New York, Agathe Gaillard, Yvon Lambert and Galerie VU in Paris. In 2007, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris devoted a retrospective exhibition covering all periods and all aspects of his work, from the Time before to the Time after….

Series

The time after, 2007

Série | All the photographs have been taken, those that may not have been yet are being taken right now by the millions of lenses that record everything, anonymously, the world over.

Le plus beau jour de ma jeunesse, 1997-2003

Serie | From 1997 to 2003, I organised one-day celebrations in twenty-five sites around the world. Each time, a hundred young persons were invited. Each of them was given a disposable camera.

The Scriptures, 1991-1992

The pleasure to say is differente from the pleasure to show, to say in one's own words, the words of your unique language.

Idols and Sacrifices, 1989-1991

Idols and Sacrifices mark the end of a long cycle of abstraction, idealisation, that had led from the first pleasant times on the beach to the gold haze of the Chambers.

Last portrait, 1989

The ceremonious Japanese delegation arrived. Two hours of careful and dazzled examination, of exclamations, of “hi” and “han”; in the chimney of the cabanon, I cooked a truffle omelette and the deal was struck!

The rooms of love, 1984-1987

The Chambers of Love setting had been ready for quite a while, ever since The Last Supper photo (1981). I was ready for the alchemy of burning and emptiness.


The probable evolution of time, 1981-1984

In the winter of 1981, after a magnificent snow-fall, I made The Blazing Snow, the last of my staged scenes with dummies.

The time after, 2007

Série | All the photographs have been taken, those that may not have been yet are being taken right now by the millions of lenses that record everything, anonymously, the world over.

Le plus beau jour de ma jeunesse, 1997-2003

Serie | From 1997 to 2003, I organised one-day celebrations in twenty-five sites around the world. Each time, a hundred young persons were invited. Each of them was given a disposable camera.

The Scriptures, 1991-1992

The pleasure to say is differente from the pleasure to show, to say in one's own words, the words of your unique language.

Idols and Sacrifices, 1989-1991

Idols and Sacrifices mark the end of a long cycle of abstraction, idealisation, that had led from the first pleasant times on the beach to the gold haze of the Chambers.

Last portrait, 1989

The ceremonious Japanese delegation arrived. Two hours of careful and dazzled examination, of exclamations, of “hi” and “han”; in the chimney of the cabanon, I cooked a truffle omelette and the deal was struck!

The rooms of love, 1984-1987

The Chambers of Love setting had been ready for quite a while, ever since The Last Supper photo (1981). I was ready for the alchemy of burning and emptiness.


The probable evolution of time, 1981-1984

In the winter of 1981, after a magnificent snow-fall, I made The Blazing Snow, the last of my staged scenes with dummies.

The time after, 2007

Série | All the photographs have been taken, those that may not have been yet are being taken right now by the millions of lenses that record everything, anonymously, the world over.

Le plus beau jour de ma jeunesse, 1997-2003

Serie | From 1997 to 2003, I organised one-day celebrations in twenty-five sites around the world. Each time, a hundred young persons were invited. Each of them was given a disposable camera.

The Scriptures, 1991-1992

The pleasure to say is differente from the pleasure to show, to say in one's own words, the words of your unique language.

Idols and Sacrifices, 1989-1991

Idols and Sacrifices mark the end of a long cycle of abstraction, idealisation, that had led from the first pleasant times on the beach to the gold haze of the Chambers.

Last portrait, 1989

The ceremonious Japanese delegation arrived. Two hours of careful and dazzled examination, of exclamations, of “hi” and “han”; in the chimney of the cabanon, I cooked a truffle omelette and the deal was struck!

The rooms of love, 1984-1987

The Chambers of Love setting had been ready for quite a while, ever since The Last Supper photo (1981). I was ready for the alchemy of burning and emptiness.


The probable evolution of time, 1981-1984

In the winter of 1981, after a magnificent snow-fall, I made The Blazing Snow, the last of my staged scenes with dummies.

videos

My roads
—
The process is simple : passengers of an unexpected moving vehicle, we travel on the most beautiful roads in the world, while a voice speaks to us. From cities to shores, from autopista to autopista, from brush to tops, the eyes sucked by the same escape point, the voice tell us its memory, its secrets, its childhood dreams, its fulgurations ; composing a poem unique in its kind.

If each words chosen by the author pierces us – just as quickness pierce the landscape -, it is because Bernard Faucon is not a driver like others. He understood that growing old was “not useless”, when it made it possible to “unlearn lessons”. His intimate pitch knows crossing paths, unintended ramifications : from the last indulgence of dreams to the hypothetical intersection of road and time, it is certainly an older memory than ours that takes the floor…

(Excerpt from Arthur Dreyfus’ text)

My roads – I, 2014
—

My roads – II, 2014
—

My roads – III, 2014
—

Interviews

La période bleue
France Inter
—
Interview by Arthur Dreyfus, 2011

” Quand il s’agit de créer, Bernard Faucon va tout de suite à l’essentiel et pour ce faire, il revient aux souvenirs qui lui sont essentiels. Ce sont ces instants qu’Arthur Dreyfus vous propose d’explorer ce soir, en plongeant, dans sa période bleue.”

Listen

Le procédé Fresson
Jean Réal
—
A film directed by Jean Réal, 2010

“Jean Réal a réalisé un film sur le procédé de tirage photographique au charbon dit “procédé Fresson”, avec plusieurs artistes familiers de l’atelier.
Ici un fragment du film qui concerne Bernard Faucon.”

The liquidation of the shed by Jean-Claude Larrieu
Bernard Faucon
—
2006

At the end of the retrospective exhibition at the MEP in Paris in 2006, Bernard Faucon offered to the visitors all the objects contained in his studio cabin in Provence.

books

Rescapés

Éditions de l’œil - 2016

Le temps d’avant

Éditions de l’Œil - 2014

Été 2550

Actes Sud - 2009

Le tour du monde, 25 fêtes de Bernard Faucon

Éditions de l'Œil - 2008

Bernard Faucon

Actes Sud - 2006

Atelier Faucon à Pingyao

Éditions de l'Œil - 2004

Une singulière gourmandise

William Blake & Co. - 2003

Le plus jour de ma jeunesse

Editions de l'Imprimeur - 2000

La plus belle route du monde

P.O.L. - 2000

La peur du voyage

William Blake & Co. - 1999

La fin de l’image

William Blake & Co. - 1997

Les écritures

William Blake & Co. - 1993

Chambres d'amour

William Blake & Co. - 1987

Les papiers qui volent

Hazan - 1986

Les grandes vacances

Herscher, 1980

Rescapés

Éditions de l’œil - 2016

Le temps d’avant

Éditions de l’Œil - 2014

Été 2550

Actes Sud - 2009

Le tour du monde, 25 fêtes de Bernard Faucon

Éditions de l'Œil - 2008

Bernard Faucon

Actes Sud - 2006

Atelier Faucon à Pingyao

Éditions de l'Œil - 2004

Une singulière gourmandise

William Blake & Co. - 2003

Le plus jour de ma jeunesse

Editions de l'Imprimeur - 2000

La plus belle route du monde

P.O.L. - 2000

La peur du voyage

William Blake & Co. - 1999

La fin de l’image

William Blake & Co. - 1997

Les écritures

William Blake & Co. - 1993

Chambres d'amour

William Blake & Co. - 1987

Les papiers qui volent

Hazan - 1986

Les grandes vacances

Herscher, 1980

Rescapés

Éditions de l’œil - 2016

Le temps d’avant

Éditions de l’Œil - 2014

Été 2550

Actes Sud - 2009

Le tour du monde, 25 fêtes de Bernard Faucon

Éditions de l'Œil - 2008

Bernard Faucon

Actes Sud - 2006

Atelier Faucon à Pingyao

Éditions de l'Œil - 2004

Une singulière gourmandise

William Blake & Co. - 2003

Le plus jour de ma jeunesse

Editions de l'Imprimeur - 2000

La plus belle route du monde

P.O.L. - 2000

La peur du voyage

William Blake & Co. - 1999

La fin de l’image

William Blake & Co. - 1997

Les écritures

William Blake & Co. - 1993

Chambres d'amour

William Blake & Co. - 1987

Les papiers qui volent

Hazan - 1986

Les grandes vacances

Herscher, 1980

AWARDS

Grand Prix national de la photographie (France)

For his entire work

1989