Jean Marquis: A Luminous Vision

ICI Venice – International Cultural Institute, in collaboration with TEN ARTS, hosts a solo show by the French photographer Jean Marquis.

The rigour of construction, the perfection of composition are never imposed ostensibly in Marquis’ photographs. Based on the idea of the decisive moment, consubstantial to this structural vision of space and the photographer-organiser on which the Cartier- Bresson school is based we observe a certain detachment. Marquis appears to be a disciple in a liberal sense but even if this detachment could never be imputed to a critical attitude of any sort, it reveals a difference in temperament, a different relationship with the world than that expressed in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s vocabulary to describe the photographic act.

Born in Armentières in 1926, Jean Marquis worked firstly with the Magnum Agency from 1953 to 1957, followed by L’Express, Time-Life, Science et Vie.