Bernard Faucon

Bernard Faucon (born 1950) is a French conceptual photographer, poet, and philosophical writer who was among the first artists to master the constructed image. His photographic mise en scène convincingly distort reality through intricate, staged compositions. His seminal series Les Grandes Vacances, composed in the late 1970s, marked a turning point in photography by introducing a subjective reality that helped push the genre to the forefront in the 1980s. In this enigmatic and nostalgic series, Faucon used mannequins and, at times, real children to recreate surreal and hauntingly idyllic scenes from childhood. These dreamlike compositions suggest an atmosphere of innocence and wonder, while also invoking a sense of underlying unease. As Faucon explained, “The idea of fabricating fictions, the idea of a possible equation between photography and the dummies, struck me quite out of the blue… Childhoods made of flesh and plaster… crystallized together through the magical operation of the photographic record.”

During the 1980s, Faucon created the series Les Chambres d’amour, which he described as “the heart of my personal strategy.” These evocative interiors reflect a desire to give visual form to personal introspection. Yet, the images remain elusive—suggestive but never fully explained—adding to their enduring mystique. In 1995, Faucon brought his photographic practice to a deliberate close with the series The End of the Image. “One way or another,” he stated, “I had to eventually make true my claim to finish, my obsession with closing.” Throughout his career, Faucon worked exclusively with the Fresson printing technique, a rare and labor-intensive color process that produces soft, painterly effects and exceptional archival stability. The result is a body of work that balances technical mastery with poetic depth.

Born in the Luberon region of southern France, Faucon studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1973. His background in philosophical inquiry informs his visual work, which explores themes of memory, longing, and the passage of time. His international acclaim began with representation by Leo Castelli in the United States and expanded rapidly with major recognition in Asia. Faucon has published several books and held over 200 solo exhibitions around the world. His photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, among many others.