Olivier Meyer is a French photographer born in 1957. He lives and works in Paris, France.

Olivier Meyer
Olivier Meyer by Alexandra Meyer in 2017
Born(1957-08-22)August 22, 1957
OccupationPhotographer

Biography

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His photo-journalism was first published in France-Soir Magazine[1] and subsequently in the daily France Soir in 1981.[2] Starting from 1989, a selection of his black and white photographs of Paris were produced as postcards[3] by Éditions Marion Valentine.

He often met the photographer Édouard Boubat on the île Saint-Louis in Paris and at the Publimod laboratory in the rue du Roi de Sicile. Having seen his photographs, Boubat told him: "at the end of the day, we are all doing the same thing...".[4] When featured in the magazine Le Monde 2 in 2007,[5] his work was noticed by gallery owner Charles Zalber[6] who exhibited his photographs at the gallery Photo4 managed by Victor Mendès.

Work

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His work is in the tradition of humanist photography[7] and street photography using the same material as many of the forerunners of this style: Kodak Tri-X black and white film, silver bromide prints on baryta paper, Leica M3 or Leica M4 with a 50 or 90 mm lens. The thin black line surrounding the prints shows that the picture has not been cropped.

His inspiration came from Henri Cartier-Bresson, Édouard Boubat, Saul Leiter.[8] His portrait of Aguigui Mouna sticking his tongue out[9] like Albert Einstein, published in postcard form in 1988,[10] and subsequently as an illustration, in a book by Anne Gallois[11] served as a blueprint for a stencil work by the artist Jef Aérosol in 2006[12] subsequently reproduced in the book VIP.[13] His photographs were exhibited at the Photo4 gallery in Paris in April 2008, and again in January 2010[14] together with photographs by Ralph Gibson.

In September 2012, the Dupif gallery in Paris held an exclusive exhibition of his work[15] to mark the publication of the book Paris, Nothing new.

Collections

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  • Musée juif de Belgique, Bruxelles, Belgium[16]
  • Musée de la photographie à Charleroi, Belgium[17]

Bibliography

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  • Olivier Meyer, Paris Nothing new, Éditions Letzalem, 2012.[18] A book of black and white photographs of Paris, some recent, but with a choice of subjects and backgrounds which avoid any reference to the modern world,[19] hence the subtitle Nothing new.
  • Olivier Meyer, Kotel Beyond the wall, Éditions Letzalem, 2012.[20] A collection of black and white photographs punctuated with questions about the Kotel also called the Western Wall, remnant of the Temple in Jerusalem. The subtitle Beyond the wall refers to the questions which evoke a spirituality capable of transcending a wall made of stones.
  • Olivier Meyer, London Nothing new, Éditions Letzalem, 2015.[21] A book of black and white photographs of London, foreword by the collector Alain Dercourt, interview of the photographer by Patricia Frischer, Founder and Coordinator of the San Diego Visual Art Network, California.

References

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  1. ^ Arnauld Dingreville (5 September 1981). "Pour eux, les voleurs, c'était la routine (Catching shoplifters was their job)". France-Soir Magazine (in French). pp. 32–35.
  2. ^ "Le drame des Halles (Drama in Les Halles)". France-Soir. 29 December 1981. p. 2.
  3. ^ Flower seller boulevard des Capucines (1979), Two nuns rue de Sèvres (1985), Aguigui Mouna rue Mouffetard (1988)
  4. ^ Aim, Lara. "Paris, nothing new d'Olivier Meyer" (in French). Actuphoto. Retrieved 23 January 2014. C'est le photographe Edouard Boubat, qu'il rencontre fréquemment sur les ponts de l'Ile Saint Louis à Paris qui lui dit un jour : "finalement, nous faisons tous la même chose"(The photographer Edouard Boubat, who he often met on the bridges of Saint-Louis Island in Paris, once told him: "at the end of the day, we are all doing the same thing")
  5. ^ Olivier Meyer (25 August 2007). "Paris à tout prix (Paris at any price)". Le Monde 2 (in French). pp. 62–63.
  6. ^ Until his death in 2011 Charles Zalber ran the Lucie Weill & Seligman gallery, founded in 1930 at the 6 rue Bonaparte in Paris, next door to the gallery Photo4 at 4 rue Bonaparte
  7. ^ Mallet, Caroline (September 2012). "Paris en noir & blanc". Réponses Photo (in French): 19. Olivier Meyer, photographe humaniste dans la lignée des Doisneau et Ronis (Olivier Meyer, humanist photographer in the tradition of Doisneau and Ronis)
  8. ^ Meyer, Olivier. "Official website". Retrieved 30 December 2013. Inspired by the geometry of Henri Cartier-Bresson, by the humanism of Edouard Boubat (...) I am moved by the poetry of Saul Leiter, modern-day alchemist who transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary
  9. ^ "Aguigui Mouna by Olivier Meyer". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  10. ^ Gallois, Anne (1997). Aguigui Mouna. Bordeaux: Les Dossiers d'Aquitaine. p. 125. ISBN 2-905212-34-9. Ce document "Aguigui tirant la langue à la façon du Dr Einstein et présentant dans la rue son journal le Mouna Frères" a fait l'objet d'une carte postale éditée en 1988 (This photograph of Aguigui sticking his tongue out like Einstein and displaying his journal Le Mouna Frères in the street was produced as a postcard in 1988)
  11. ^ Gallois, Anne (1988). Mouna. Paris: Clancier-Guénaud. ISBN 2-86215-137-8.
  12. ^ Aérosol, Jef (8 December 2006). "Mouna Aguigui". flickr.com. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  13. ^ Aérosol, Jef (2007). V.I.P. Paris: Editions Alternatives. ISBN 978-286227-517-8.
  14. ^ "Exhibitions at Galerie LWS". Photography-now. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  15. ^ "Nothing new". Dupifphoto (in French). Retrieved 16 February 2015. Son travail s'inscrit dans la continuité de la street photography et de la photographie humaniste (His work is in the tradition of Street photography and Humanist photography)
  16. ^ "Musée juif de Belgique, official website". Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
  17. ^ "Musée de la photographie à Charleroi, official website".
  18. ^ Meyer, Olivier (2012). Paris, Nothing new. Paris: Editions Letzalem. ISBN 978-2-9541137-1-5.
  19. ^ "Paris nothing new" (in French). Fusac. 6 November 2012. p. 28. Retrieved 16 February 2015. Les sujets classifiés composent un puzzle de Paris intemporel, façon Georges Perec (The different themes make up a jigsaw showing timeless aspects of Paris, in the manner of Georges Perec)
  20. ^ Meyer, Olivier (2012). Kotel, Beyond the wall. Paris: Editions Letzalem. ISBN 978-2-9541137-0-8.
  21. ^ Meyer, Olivier (2015). London, Nothing new. Paris: Editions Letzalem. ISBN 978-2-9541137-2-2.
  • This article has been translated from the French Wikipedia
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