Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Sans titre (Tour Eiffel) [Untitled (Eiffel Tower)]

Image caption
PIERRE BOUCHER

Sans titre (Tour Eiffel) [Untitled (Eiffel Tower)]

  • 1936
  • Silver gel print on baryta paper, copy made by the author in 1988
  • 19,2 x 17,5 cm
  • Cat. F_164
  • Acquired in 2014
By:
Isabel Tejeda

UNTITLED (Eiffel Tower) (1936) and The Lighthouse in Saint Tropez (1935) form part of Pierre Boucher's extensive photographic legacy. The French artist shows a remarkable interest in architectural motifs — such as the lighthouse and the tower depicted in these two works — through which he seeks to show the reality of the modern world. Using the smaller, more manageable cameras that had just come on the market, Boucher sought to capture a novel architectural aesthetic. He usually emphasized the presence of isolated features and used contrasts, variations in scale and forced perspectives, such as the low angle shot seen in these photos, so characteristic of the New Vision. In his attempt to present the complexity of the real and capture the surprising aesthetics of architecture, Boucher also experimented with different photographic techniques such as photomontage, solarization and overprinting, as can clearly be seen in Untitled (Eiffel Tower).

Although his extensive oeuvre covers a range of categories (photographism, surrealist art, aesthetics of reality and nude photography), his works all interrelate and influence one another, to produce a very personal artistic style that has earned him global recognition as one of the most influential 'image editors' of the twentieth century.

Isabel Tejeda

 
By:
Isabel Tejeda
Pierre Boucher
Paris 1908 - Faremoutiers 2000

Boucher studied at the École des Arts Appliquées à l'Industrie in Paris (1922), where he developed a strong fascination for graphic composition, using a variety of techniques including drawing, engraving, typography design and photography. Indeed, he defined himself as a 'photographist'. His photographic work was linked to the fields of advertising, editorial design, illustration, and to various twentieth century art movements such as New Objectivity, New Vision and surrealist photography. He also took an interest in the architecture of Le Corbusier, the Bauhaus movement, the experimental cinema of Fritz Lang and painting, all of which left their influence on his work.

During his time as an Air Force photographer, he learned a range of laboratory and photomontage techniques. In 1931 the Studio Zuber was founded, acting as a meeting place and work space for a collective of photographers from very different backgrounds. Boucher was a member of the studio, along with René Zuber and Emeric Feher, among others. Studio Zuber is considered to have been the germ of the future Alliance-Photo agency, founded in 1934 by Zuber, Boucher and Maria Eisner. With Alliance-Photo, Boucher undertook projects in a wide range of fields: travel, sports, architecture, nudes, etcetera. In 1952 he founded the Multiphoto advertising agency, serving as its art director for several years. He is known as an innovator and an explorer of techniques that he placed at the service of his photography. Boucher is recognised as one of the best editors of photographic images of the twentieth century. His photographs were used to illustrate books such as Truquage en photographie (Marcel Natkin, 1938) and Le Nu en photographie (Marcel Natkin, 1945), in which his work was presented alongside that of other artists such as Man Ray to reflect different aesthetics in nude photography.

Boucher's work has been exhibited at many prominent museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York, 1937); the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid, 1999); the Centre Pompidou and the Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris, 2008 and 2013); and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Tokyo, 2012).

Isabel Tejeda

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.