Now is probably the perfect time to remember that 41-year-old French photographer François Rousseau began his photography career in 1995, after 10 years of painting. It certainly explains — at least in part — why he spent the last 4 years bringing to life Patrick Grainville’s 1998 novel L’Atelier du Peintre (The Painter’s Studio), through an assembly of complex compositions and frescos that he titled Atelier [above].
“Grainville’s novel tells the passionate and tragic story of a European master painter who fled France to start a painting studio in L.A.’s infamous Venice Beach. The studio became a creative haven and home for students who were once delinquents,” explains the photographer. Atelier is showing until April 5th at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris.
François Rousseau currently alternates between commercials, fashion photography and art photography. He also manages a photo workshop at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, China and is working on a book about movement and dance.
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jonathan dow
François, I saw some of these GREAT photographs in TETU magazine. If there’s a book, I’d love to get it.
May 3rd, 2009
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