January 31 – February 23, 2013

“Le Noir” by Jean-Claude Mougin

In his quest for the absolute black – Le Noir, the French photographer and platinum printer will lead us, through a selection of his work, to rediscover black and white photography.

Jean-Claude Mougin explains that : “The black is the subtraction of all the colors but it is as well their addition. The black is in a same time the vacuum and the full. It is the « arché », the strump  of all which is. Before the imperceptible and ethereal light, before ” the light is “, the deep Night was already there, black more black than black wrapping with the thickness of her shadow beings to be born, beings which to live will give birth to dreams and to images, before that the death again take them. “

For 30 years, Jean-Claude Mougin has taught philosophy but also how to read and analyze images and the philosophy of photography at the Nicephore Niepce museum in Chalon-sur Saône. After reading the German philosopher Walter Benjamin and discovering the Niepce museum treasures, including “The Pencil of Nature” by Fox Talbot and many great french calotypists from the 19th century, he became interested in the idea of “aura” and alternative techniques in photography. In 1980, he sees for the very first time a platinum print by Paul Strand at the Zabriskie gallery in Paris. It was a true revelation. From the Pizzighelli and Hübl books, he decided to reproduce this process and since then, he has been working and perfecting this technique. He quickly became one of the best platinum / palladium printer in France and has been offering numerous workshop in France and abroad (at the Luxun University of Art in Shenyang, China). His work has been exhibited in Tunisia, France, Denmark, Great-Britain including an exhibition at the Nicephore Niepce museum and at the Fox Talbot museum of Lacock Abbey. Some of his prints can be found in the collections of several institutions such as the Niepce museum, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne and the Luxun University of Art in China.