Jean-François Bauret

Jean-François Bauret (1932-2014) is one of the most renowned French photographers of his generation. He is primarily remembered for his nudes and his work in advertising. In his responses to commissions as well as in his personal research, he employed stripped-down compositions, showing bodies directly and playing on the contrasts of black and white. He is notably the author of a male nude as well as photographs of pregnant women considered provocative at the time.

In his early days, starting in 1959, he also photographed numerous artists, famous or still unknown to the general public, at home or in their studios.

He thus immortalised intimate moments with the same sense of composition and the same desire to show “the individual as they are”.

Some portraits reflect more assertive formal research, as in the series dedicated to the painter Geneviève Asse, while in others, brushes or palettes substitute for the artist and embody them.

The portraits presented in this room all show artists of whom at least one work is preserved in the collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.

Jean-François Bauret’s work was first presented at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in 1971 during a monographic exhibition organised by the ARC (Animation – Recherche – Confrontation) section.

The current display follows the generous donation of 80 prints to the museum by Madame Claude Bauret Allard in 2017.