Until May 29, 2011, the Henri Matisse Museum in Nice is exhibiting photographs of the painter taken by Pierre Boucher.
Pierre Boucher ventured into photography in the late 1920s. “My father spent three-quarters of a century with a camera in hand,” notes Jean-Louis Boucher. Pierre Boucher was initially trained as a graphic artist, not a photographer. “He fulfilled his passion for photography during his military service where he refined his technique,” his son indicates. In 1934, he created one of the first photo agencies, Alliance Photo, with René Zuber, an agency that was dissolved a few years later due to the war. Thanks to his agency and his work, Pierre Boucher built a reputation in the world of photography. “Initially, he was a graphic artist, and in his work, he always made room for graphic design in photography. He considered himself a ‘photographist,’” his son shares. His avant-garde work made his reputation, especially in the advertising world.
Photographist in Advertising
“He was commissioned to create many advertising posters,” explains Jean-Louis Boucher. Cars, pharmaceutical products – there were as many campaigns where he took on the role of photo editor. In his various advertising photos, Pierre Boucher used photography as the base rather than drawing, as was often the case at that time. In his “works,” the photographist used the main subject of his photo as a graphic element. “It was the new photographic vision at the time, the predominance of objects and the body,” confides his son. The predominance of the body is a vision also found in some of Matisse’s works.
When Boucher Meets Matisse
In 1938, Pierre Boucher met Henri Matisse. “It was through a mutual friend that they got to know each other,” Jean-Louis Boucher indicates. Pierre Boucher put his photographic talents at the painter’s service. “They conducted a photographic ‘reportage.’ To borrow my father’s words, the atmosphere was relaxed and everything went well,” confides Jean-Louis Boucher. The two men found common interests in their respective works, such as the emphasis they placed on objects in their creations.
The exhibition A Photographer of Matisse: Pierre Boucher is held at the Matisse Museum in Nice until May 29.
