Bernard Faucon

Bernard Faucon (born September 12, 1950) is a French photographer and writer.

Faucon was born in Apt, in Provence, southern France. He was taught at the lycée in Apt, then graduated in Philosophy from the Sorbonne in 1973. Until 1977 he worked as a fine art painter, and thereafter discovered photography. His photographic work has a love of youth and dreamy beauty, using saturated colour, natural settings, rooms and often tableaux of mannequins. His major photographic series are, in date-order: Les Grandes Vacances (1977–1981); Evolution probable du Temps (1981–1984); Les Chambres d'amour (1987–1989); Les Idoles et les Sacrifices (1989–1991); Les écritures (1991–1993); and La Fin de L'image (1993–1995).

He has won numerous awards from his work, including the Grand Prix National (1989), and the Prix Leonard de Vinci (1991). Since 1977 he has had nearly 300 solo exhibitions, but he decided to cease photography in 1997. In 1999 he produced his first book of writing, La peur du voyage.

The mannequins used in his work are now at the Nanasai Company Collection, in Kyoto, Japan . In 2002, the Moscow House of Photography held a Bernard Faucon Festival, and he was invited to officially open the Moscow Biennale. He is currently represented by the French agency Agence Vu.

Almost all of his books have been published in France or Japan; the most recent and most available retrospective is Jours d'Image, 1977-1995. Most of his books are out-of-print and command high prices on the collector's market.

Bernard Faucon: Fables (1992. Dir: Jean Real. 44 minute film.)

Guy Davenport. The Illuminations of Bernard Faucon (IN: The Georgia Review, Winter 2002).

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