the untold life of the photograph

10/13/2022 - 11/26/2022

the untold life of the photograph
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN
Joel-Peter WITKIN

The baudoin lebon gallery is pleased to offer an unexpected insight into the peculiar work of Joel Peter Witkin.

By presenting for the first time the artist's contact sheets as well as drawings, accessories, and unique prints enhanced with encaustic paint, the exhibition will take you on a journey to discover his creative process. These contact sheets, which were never intended to be published or exhibited, allow the discovery of the moments preceding and following the artist's emblematic shots as well as the notes of the photographer on the framing, the posture, the sets and light… all elements that constitute the image and allow us to decrypt it. Joel Peter Witkin never leaves a thing to chance.  His work is the result of tremendous work, of attempts, errors, and more or less successful experiments both during the shooting and in the intimacy of the darkroom.


This exhibition pays tribute to the atypical and iconoclast know-how of this extraordinary photographer.