An exhibition of film photographs at the L'app'Art gallery

"A retrospective of my career." From August 25th to September 6th, Périgord art photographer Jean-Claude Cousteille is exhibiting 37 of his works at the L'app'Art art gallery in Périgueux. Photographs of moments in life, taken on film, from all eras, from the 1970s to the 2000s, and from all locations, particularly in the Dordogne.

A meeting with Josephine Baker

“I started as an amateur at the age of 15 with an old bellows camera,” says Jean-Claude Cousteille. “A friend who liked it got me into it more seriously.” The photographer shot one of his very first reports at the Château des Milandes, where he had the opportunity to meet Joséphine Baker, taking his first professional photos on this occasion. These photos were displayed at L'app'Art during the exhibition. “I was inspired by humanist photographers such as Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson,” comments the artist. “What we commonly call street photography and which touches on human behavior.”

As a professional, the 83-year-old admits he preferred studio portraits. "What drove me was getting closer to people, but without interfering in their lives," the photographer reveals. "I named the exhibition Preserved Moments because all the scenes I photographed, from the moment the shot is taken, will never exist again, no matter what."

Jean-Claude Cousteille admits he doesn't want to deliver a message, 'I want everyone to interpret the photos as they see fit.' Among the 37 photographs, all framed and printed on film, three depict, for example, Brigitte Bardot during the filming of her latest feature film, at Château Fénelon in Sarladais. Another depicts three men at the Vergt market in 1970. From his travels, he brought back a photograph of two wrecked trucks in the former Yugoslavia, and another of a Spanish cattle farmer in the shade of a tree during a scorching summer.

Jean-Claude Cousteille exhibition at the L'app'Art gallery, until September 6. Open to the public during gallery hours.