LUCIEN CLERGUE
(1934-2014)
PHOTOGRAPHS
Westwood Gallery NYC presented the premiere U.S. solo exhibition for Lucien Clergue’s ‘Testament of Orpheus’.
To inquire regarding price for vintage photographs or limited editions prints, and to purchase any of the photographs shown below, contact the gallery at info@westwoodgallery.com.
© Lucien Clergue.
In 1959, Clergue captured historic and artistic photographs on the set of Jean Cocteau's last film "Testament of Orpheus" (Le testament d'Orphée) . The images evoke the creative personality of one of France's foremost 20th century intellectuals, Jean Cocteau, writer, artist, and filmmaker. Clergue documented the atmosphere on the set of the landmark, seminal film. Among Cocteau's collaborators represented are Pablo Picasso, Yul Brynner, and Jean Marais. Photographer Lucien Clergue, a close friend of Cocteau, was only 25 at the time; he documented the making of the film. In the words of Cocteau, "You are free to do as you please, I look forward to being surprised by your photos. They will reveal something different from my film."
"Testament of Orpheus" (Le testament d'Orphée), directed and starring Jean Cocteau, represents the third part of his Orphic Trilogy and is Cocteau's last film, following "The Blood of a Poet" (1930) and "Orphée" (1950). The black-and-white film includes a few seconds of color, and portrays the quest for divine wisdom of an 18th century poet, played by Mr. Cocteau himself. In a mysterious wasteland, The Poet meets several symbolic characters that bring about his death and resurrection. Testament of Orpheus brings full circle the exploration of the complex relationship between the artist and his creations. Clergue's photographs capture the creative mystery of the film, with images of 'horse humans', a winged mythical Phoenix and emblematic Phantoms of death. With an eclectic cast, including Jean Marais, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Serge Lifar, Françoise Sagan as well as cameo appearances by Yul Brynner and Pablo Picasso, the film represents a retrospective of Cocteau's life and work as examined by the artist himself, and is, in Cocteau's own words, "simply a machine for creating meanings."
The photographs of Jean Cocteau by Lucien Clergue are in the permanent collection of the Jean Cocteau Museum in Menton, France and were on view when the museum opened.
“The Testament of Orpheus is simply a machine for creating meanings. The film offers the viewer hieroglyphics that he can interpret as he pleases so as to quench his inquisitive thirst for Cartesianism.
This film has nothing to do with dreams except that it borrows the rigorous illogicality of dreams, their way of giving during the night, a kind of freshness to the falsehoods of the day that is dulled by routine. In addition, it is realistic, if realism means a detailed painting of the intrigues of a universe that is personal to every artist and is totally unrelated to what we are used to accepting as reality. The film disobeys dead rules, paying homage to all who wish to remain free."
- Jean Cocteau
ABOUT JEAN COCTEAU
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 - 11 October 1963) was a French writer, visual artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, Maria Félix, Edith Piaf. Born in a small village near Paris in a socially prominent Parisian family, Cocteau left home at age fifteen, and published his first volume of poems at nineteen. In his early twenties, Cocteau became associated with the writers Marcel Proust, André Gide, and Maurice Barrès. In 1912, he started his collaboration with Ballets Russes. During World War I, Cocteau served in the Red Cross as an ambulance driver, and met the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, artists Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, as well as numerous other writers and artists with whom he later collaborated. Cocteau worked with Pablo Picasso on several projects and was friends with most of the European art community. His films, most of which he both wrote and directed, were particularly important in introducing the avant-garde into French cinema and influenced the French New Wave genre. In 1955, Cocteau was made a member of the Académie Française and The Royal Academy of Belgium. During his life, Cocteau was commander of the Legion of Honor and Honorary President of the Cannes Film Festival. He died in 1963 at his chateau in Milly-la-Forêt.
BIOGRAPHY
Lucien Clergue (1934-2014) was a legendary fine art photographer, author, educator and filmmaker. His work has been associated with significant artists of the 20th century, including Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Roland Barthes, Max Ernst, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Salvador Dali, Jean Renoir, André Kertész, and Marcel Breuer.
Clergue captured extraordinary images of Saltimbanques, nudes, the bullfight, intimate portraits of artists, intellectuals, musicians and creative individuals. His photographic artistry extends to experimental and visionary images of deserts, cities and integrating master paintings with the human form. In addition to photography, Clergue has created and directed numerous art related films. He is co-founder, along with Michel Tournier, of the annual Les Rencontres d’Arles Photographie, the internationally recognized photography festival in Arles, France. He is also the first photographer to hold the title of President of The Académie des Beaux-Arts, one of the five academies of the Institut de France.
Lucien Clergue is one of only three photographers (including Henri Cartier-Bresson and André Kertész) to receive the French Legion of Honor award. Clergue's photographs have been exhibited in over 100 solo exhibitions worldwide. Harvard University’s Fogg Museum has an extensive collection of Clergue photographs, as well as Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
2022, JAN 15 - MAR 26
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC
EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 - Lucien Clergue: Phoenixology, Westwood Gallery NYC
2019 - Clergue & Weston, Première expo, Premières oeuvres, La Croisière, Arles
2018 - Picasso mon ami, Château des Baux de Provence
2018 - Lucien Clergue: Poète Photographe, Luxembourg Cercle Cité
2017 - Lucien Clergue: Picasso, Salle d’honneur, Hôtel de Ville, Perpignan
2017 - Lucien Clergue: Les Suds, DIDAM, Bayonne
2016 - Donation Lucien Clergue Photographies, Musée Jean Cocteau, Menton
2015 - Lucien Clergue: Les Premiers Albums, Grand Palais, Paris
2015 - Tribute to Lucien Clergue, Galerie Jacques de la Béraudière, Geneva, Switzerland
2014 - Lucien Clergue: La Lumière Transcrite, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
2014 - Throckmorton Gallery, NYC
2013 - Musée Jean Cocteau, Menton, France
2013 - Centre Culturel Français, Madrid, Spain
2013 - Musée Yves Brayer, Les-Baux-de-Provence, France
2011 - Jean Cocteau’s “The Testament of Orpheus," 1959, Westwood Gallery, NYC
2011 - Clergue in America , French Institute Alliance Française, NYC
2011 - Maison de la photographie, Moscow, Russia
2010 - Clergue Dans L’Arène, 50 Ans de Photographie, Palais de L’Archevêché, Paris
2010 - Palais de l'Archevêché, Arles, France
2010 - Artmia Foudation, Beijing, China
2007 - Lucien Clergue, “The Poet with the Camera”, KunstHausWien, Wien, Austria
2006 - Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA
2004 - Recontres Internationales de la Photographie, Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France
1999 - Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Dortmund, Germany
1997 - Musée Paul Eluard, Paris, France
1997 - Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico
1997 - UCR California Museum of Photography, CA
1997 - Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France
1993 - Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
1993 - FNAC, Paris, France
1988 - International Photo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1987 - Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
1987 - Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris , Paris, France
1986 - Lucien Clergue, International Center of Photography, NYC
1986 - Photo Fiesta, Higeshikawa, Japan
1985 - George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
1984 - French Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel
1984 - Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
1980 - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1978 - Photographic Center, Melbourne, Australia
1978 - Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1974 - Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany
1974 - Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
1974 - Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1969 - Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1963 - Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
1962 - Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
1958 - Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 - Les gitans, Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Allemagne
2015 - Les premiers albums, Grand Palais, Paris, Picasso, Miró, Alechinsky, Char, Hugo… les amis de PAB photographiés par Lucien Clergue, musée Pierre-André-Benoît, Alès
2009 - Lucien Clergue, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Deux Photographes Académiciens, Musée Marmottan, Paris
1999 - The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) Exhibition, NYC
1998 - Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
1990 - Galerie Lieberman and Saul, NYC
1979 - New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1978 - Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
1961 - Diogenes with a Camera V, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
1958 - Museum of Modern Art, NYC
NEWS
PUBLICATIONS
> Lucien Clergue: Eros and Thanatos, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue: Fifty Years of Photography, Karen Sinsheimer
> Practical Nude Photography, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Footprints of the Gods: The Point Lobos Saga, Text by Jim Hughes, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Picasso Mon Ami, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue Poesie Photographique, Eva-Monika Turck
> Double fantaisie: Entretien autour d’un doute, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue: Grands Nus, Jacques Outin
> La Nuit de la Terre: Les Tombes de Montmajour, Arles 1955, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Language des Sables, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Mon paysage: le paysage préféré des Français, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Nimeno II: Torero de France, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Passion de Femmes: Une Leçon de Photographie, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Passion Passions, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Saint-John Perse: Poete Devant La Mer, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Tauromachies, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Vivre La Provence et La Camargue, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Naissances d’Aphrodite: Birth of Aphrodite, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue: Homage, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue: Nee de la Vague, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Toros Muertos, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Lucien Clergue: Les Saltimbanques, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Nude Workshop, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
> Jean Cocteau and the Testament of Orpheus, 1959, Photographs by Lucien Clergue
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
San Francisco MoMA
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
International Center of Photography, NYC
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
Fondation National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes, France
Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK
Syracuse University Art Gallery, Syracuse, NY
Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA
Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NY
Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, New Orleans LA
Musée Jean Cocteau, Menton, France
University of Michigan Museum of Art, University of Michigan
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Kemper Art Museum, University of Washington in St. Louis
Musee Reattu, Arles, France
Buhl Foundation, New York
The Milwaukee Museum of Art Milwaukee
The University of Maryland, Catonsville Baltimore County
Victoria Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Preus Fotomuseum, Horten, Norway
Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Oxford College Collection, Oxford, England
National Gallery of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
Museum of Modern Art of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Musée Picasso, Paris, France
Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
La Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
Galeria de la Foto, Buenos Aires, Argentina
École Nationale de la Photographie, Arles, France
Dortmund Art Museum, Dortmund, Germany
Cabinet des Estampes à Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France