Françoise Morin and Les Douches la Galerie are delighted to invite you to the opening of their new group exhibition, Je veux voir de l’art [I want to see Art], curated by Eric Rémy, on Thursday 30 November from 6pm. The exhibition is a tribute to Christian Bouqueret, the historian, gallery owner and collector who died ten years ago. It’s a rare opportunity to explore vintage prints from photographers, particularly those from the interwar period, which he passionately advocated during his lifetime. The exhibition also showcases the contemporary German photographic scene.
OPENING ON 30 NOVEMBER FROM 6PM TO 9PM
Attracted as a young man to the artistic avant-garde, Christian Bouqueret frequented the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and the galleries on Boulevard Saint-Germain, particularly those of Denise René. In 1973, while he was active in the FAHR, an amorous encounter led him to abandon his studies in sinology in Paris and go off to Berlin to study art history and German studies. Returning to France in 1979, at the age of 29, Christian Bouqueret tried his hand at a brief venture as a gallery owner. Too pioneering or too inexperienced, he quickly closed the place down. He turned to teaching to support himself, but photography remained his only interest.
In the early 80s, he produced his first exhibition with Michèle Chomette for the 1982 Rencontres d’Arles. In 1990, he and Marie-Claude Lebon founded the Bouqueret+Lebon gallery, which they dedicated to the rediscovery of French photographers from the inter-war period, the presentation of the contemporary German photographic scene (Kurt Buchwald, les Blume, Dieter Appelt, Gerd Bonfert, Jürgen Klauke, Dörte Eissfelt) and photographers working in France (Tom Drahos, Marc Donnadieu and Thierry Balanger). In 1996, he stopped working in galleries to devote himself to writing his book Des années folles aux années noires, la nouvelle vision photographique en France 1920-1940, the fruit of fifteen years’ study of this pivotal period in the history of art, which was awarded the Prix Nadar in 1997. Until 2004, he organised around twenty exhibitions with the support of museum institutions and their curators. It was at this time that his work was halted by illness. He remained active, however, and organised a major exhibition at the Jeu de Paume on photography in France in the 1930s.
On the morning of 17 November 2013, very weakened by his illness, and with Éric Rémy urging him to rest rather than return to Paris Photo one last time, Christian replied in a fit of vitality: “I want to see art”.
Christian Bouqueret died on 5 December 2013. Photography was his passion for forty years.
For more information: Je veux voir de l’Art
Image Cover: Dieter Appelt, Der Fleck auf dem Spiegel, den der Atemhauch schafft (The stain on the mirror that the breath breath), 1977
Vintage silver gelatine print © Dieter Appelt, Courtesy Les Douches la Galerie, Paris
