In ‘Between Worlds’ Gruyaert experiments with bringing together different layers, depths, surfaces, light levels and colour palettes in one frame. This results in dense and highly complex images that confuse the eye and are difficult to fathom. The contrast between the empty room and the lively world outside as seen in the Mali picture is furthermore an illustration of how Gruyaert plays with juxtaposing different realities and dimensions of human experience. A cold and rainy empty street versus the cozy ambiance of a bar interior, colourful consumer goods on display in a shop window versus the grey reality of the street it reflects or walkers on sunny platforms versus lonely passengers in a train about to depart: as writer and curator David Campany puts it in his introduction of the book accompanying this exhibition, these images are all “made at those complicated yet poetic points between worlds.” In his afterword to the book, critic and curator David Campany writes, “This book brings together images by Gruyaert from many places and many stages of his long artistic life. To make each one, he has stood with his camera at a threshold of one kind or another. A window. A doorway. A screen. A reflection. In other words, these are images made at those complicated yet poetic points between worlds. For centuries, painters have been fascinated by thresholds, and for a number of reasons. A pictured threshold can imply a narrative while leaving everything suspended and unanswered.” Harry Gruyaert" is the first retrospective of the pioneering work of Harry Gruyaert. Gruyaert revolutionized creative and experimental uses of color in the 1970s and 1980s. His emotive, non-narrative, and boldly graphic way of perceiving the world influenced both cinema and American photographers. This volume provides a superb overview of Gruyaert's personal quest for freedom of expression and the liberation of the senses, featuring 80 color illustrations. It’s a bit like the recent movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Of course, the plot lines are not the same. But the idea of holding multiple levels of now as being simultaneously present is fascinating and maddening and finally deeply rewarding in a way that is impossible to reduce to a single topic or thesis statement. Harry Gruyaert est un photographe intuitif, prenant des photos en flânant sans destination ni idée préconçue, si ce n'est son intérêt pour la composition, la couleur et la lumière.

This book from award-winning Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert collects his most cinematic images to date. Harry Gruyaert's photography is characterized by his masterful use of color, light, and composition. He often captures everyday scenes, imbuing them with a sense of beauty and poetry through his use of vibrant hues and subtle contrasts. Gruyaert's work reveals the power of color to transform ordinary moments into something extraordinary. One image, from New York City in 1985 is a street scene, with a windowed storefront at a corner. Both the multiple window panes and the streets move in angles to each other. It is impossible, looking at this picture, to confidently place where everything in the image is in relationship to each other. It’s tough to tell what we’re seeing straight in front of us and what we’re seeing in reflection. But the jumble is a creative symphony of goings on. Harry Gruyaert: India" brings together 150 images from the photographer's travels across India over more than thirty years. Featuring his trademark use of color, Gruyaert captures the people and places of the subcontinent in a manner that transcends stereotypes. From bustling cities to modest villages, this collection reveals some of the many faces of India through Gruyaert's unparalleled vision.

Thames & Hudson (English) / Atelier Xavier Barral (French), 2022

This richly illustrated volume is the first critical look at the early career of Arthur Tress, a key proponent of magical realism and staged photography. is furthermore an illustration of how Gruyaert plays with juxtaposing different realities and dimensions of human Harry Gruyaert: Between Worlds dissolves the boundaries between exterior and interior spaces, a closed world and one that is open to elsewhere. From shops, cafés, subway platforms, and hotel roomsin Europe, the Middle East, the United States, and Africa from the1970s to today, Gruyaert deploys the very essence of visual writing:a luminous alchemy suspended in time. A collection of seventy-five images that connect one realm with the next, this volume shows that beyond the marvelous colorist that he is, Gruyaert’s images also depict a photographer’s vision of the world.

lonely passengers in a train about to depart: as writer and curator David Campany puts it in his introduction of Legacy and Influence Harry Gruyaert's groundbreaking approach to color photography has left a lasting impact on the world of street photography. His work has inspired countless photographers to embrace color as an essential element of their visual language, rather than merely a decorative aspect. Photographers like Bieke Depoorter and Martin Parr have also made significant contributions to the world of color photography, capturing the vibrancy and richness of life through their lenses.A picture from New York City in 2020 is again a combination of direct vision, obscured vision, reflection, perhaps even reflections of reflections. And there is no need to tease them out. The gestalt is the center of joy and fascination. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gruyaert does not focus solely on the human aspect of street photography. Instead, he also pays close attention to the environment, incorporating architecture and urban landscapes into his images. This approach allows him to create a more comprehensive visual narrative of the places he visits. Cette exposition, ainsi que l’ouvrage éponyme publié en octobre dernier par Atelier Xavier Barral, propose une vision transversale de l’œuvre diversifiée de Harry Gruyaert. Gruyaert’s play with illusion and perception throws the viewer off balance. The depicted obstructions create distance between the viewer and what is being photographed. They generate awareness – much more than in Gruyaert’s other work – of the presence and position of the photographer. The latter is present, but never really seems to belong in the place he photographs and – consciously or unconsciously – takes on the position of an outsider. Although Gruyaert always states that he simply records what he sees – without any autobiographical or subjective motive – these images might reveal an insight in the psychology of the artist. According to Campany these photographs may be understood as “metaphors for Gruyaert’s passing through, for his being in a constant state of transition.” “Threshold images are a perfect means of expressing and contemplating that feeling of belonging to different registers of experience, and to nowhere in particular,” the writer states. They are therefore always self-conscious and reflective images, also in the case of Harry Gruyaert.