Bernard Dufour's Untouched Photographs at Maison des arts Georges-Pompidou

An exhibition of Bernard Dufour's photographs and paintings was held at the Maison des arts Georges-Pompidou in Cajarc from April 8 to June 3, 2012. Dufour has been taking photographs since the 1950s, parallel to his painting practice. He does not manipulate his images: in the darkroom, he printed them without cropping or additional processing; with digital cameras, he applies no post-processing. The exhibition, co-curated by the artist and Martine Michard, director of the center, included several previously unseen paintings from the Pradié studio that clearly originate from photographs. No chronological or topological markers were present—just images that, according to Dufour, express nothing. In an interview with Loïc Bodin published in the monograph "Manipulations" (éditions de Juillet), Dufour stated that any meaning a viewer finds likely has little to do with what occupied the photographer at the moment of capture. A lover of photographic technique, Dufour sees a connection to engraving and drawing on a plate; the exhibition also featured some of his cliché-verre works. With striking ingenuousness, he said, "The desire to photograph can, in itself, justify pressing the shutter"—without presuming a destination for the image, which through manipulation "can be made to say anything."