Harry Gruyaert

Between the 1970s and 1980s, Harry Gruyaert (Belgium, 1941), a member of Magnum Photos, was one of the few European photographers to give color a purely creative dimension: an emotional, non-narrative perception and a radically graphic vision of the world. Some American photographers, including Saul Leiter and William Eggleston, had already embarked on this path; their works led Gruyaert to grasp the expressive potential that was emerging at a time when photography was still predominantly celebrated in black and white.

Today, Harry Gruyaert’s success is international. The exhibition presented at CAMERA Torino is his first major retrospective in Italy. Constructed chronologically, the exhibition opens with TV shots, a unique experience of dialogue between early color television and photography. The exhibition illustrates the evolution of his graphic language, influenced by his numerous travels, in which each country stands out in his eyes for its specific chromatic qualities. His artistic research has also benefited from the evolution of photographic techniques, from Kodachrome film and Cibachrome printing in the 20th century to the vast possibilities offered by digital technology in the 21st century.

The exhibition is curated by François Hébel, artistic director of CAMERA Torino.