Through October 31, 2012, the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny, France, will present Monet intime, a selection of photographs taken by Bernard Plossu. The exhibition stems from the Festival Normandie Impressionniste 2010, for which Plossu has photographed Monet’s house and the Giverny gardens in winter for the exhibition Dans un jardin. He returned in the springtime to capture the house in a different kind of light, and to document the renovations made since his last visit. Working with the curators Diego Candil and Vanessa Lecomte, Bernard Plossu will, in his own words, show without distorting. “How to photograph a place with as much history as Giverny? How to see with a fresh eye its furniture, its atmosphere, intimately and without copying: staying sober, discreet, without any effects... To convey Monet without imitating him.”

Apart from the photographer’s method of working is the objectivity imposed by the 50mm lens in a 24x36 format. The latter emphasizes the importance of the finished product, be it in the prints themselves or the paper used for the exhibition catalogue.

To begin with, the format rarely exceeds 18x24cm, part of the photographer’s characteristic style. But it is found above all in the finishing (11.4 x 7.6 cm) in precious gray. “The miniature size concentrates the light, requiring the viewer to lean forward and enter into the image. To see the chance at play, one must be in this state of openness that extreme concentration allows.” The color prints are done by Fresson because the process has a certain “matteness” to it that recalls impressionism. “It’s the matte paper that produces this feeling... With Fresson, there are no aggressive colors and each print is unique. In a word, Michel Fresson is my translator. He knows how to turn a black-and-white atmosphere into color.”

For Plossu, contrary to what other artists try to minimize, all of these choices form an integral part of the result. Here, the slow walk in the house and its surroundings were supposed to lead to a sort of reincarnation. Through these sixty prints, according to the photographer, the viewer should be able, like the painter, to brush against the seasons, see the leaves quiver, the wind murmur, feel the silence, and understand inspiration. Rediscover the presence of Monet through his objects, covered in toile de Jouy, the winter and springtime lights filtering through the green shutters, with paintings and family portraits hanging on the walls.

In one of the texts in the catalogue, Vanessa Lecomte, an assistant curator at the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny does a fine job explaining the atmosphere surrounding this exhibition: “The photographs of Bernard Plossu seem to fix in our memories that which always escapes us.”

Bernard PERRINE
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition
"Monet intime" Bernard Plossu
Until October 31st, 2012
Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
99 rue Claude Monet
27620 Giverny - France
Phone : +33 (0) 232 51 94 65
Email : contact@mdig.fr
Every day : 10am - 6pm

Édition
"Monet intime"
Bernard Plossu
Introduction by Diego Candil, Directeur général du musée des impressionnismes Giverny
Texts by Bernard Plossu, Vanessa Lecomte et Cédric Lessec
Filigranes Éditions / musée des impressionnismes giverny
Collection Hors collection
96 pages
24,5 x 30 cm
Hardcover