Olivier Richon

Olivier Richon (born 1956) is a Swiss‑born photographer whose meticulously staged color images fuse the pictorial depth of Old Master painting with a modern sensibility. Raised in Lausanne, he moved to London to study film and photographic arts at the Polytechnic of Central London, earning his BA (Hons) in 1980 and an MPhil in 1988. Early on he embraced classical techniques—perspective, chiaroscuro lighting, and carefully draped fabrics—yet his work consistently subverts traditional allegories through a subtle thread of surrealism.

Since the 1980s Richon has focused on two primary subjects: still lifes and animal portraits. He places objects and creatures—rabbits, birds, vintage scientific specimens—against simple backdrops, composing each frame with the precision of a studio painter. The resulting images seem to promise hidden narratives, inviting viewers to linger over their ambiguous combinations of realism and artifice. In these photographs, the boundary between animate and inanimate blurs, and meaning hovers just beyond reach.

Richon’s work has been exhibited widely across Europe, North America, and Asia. His photographs are held in leading public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Britain (London), the Brooklyn Museum (New York), and the National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto). Critics have praised his ability to interrogate photography’s capacity to convey both the materiality of his subjects and the idea inscribed within the frame.

A dedicated educator, Richon serves as professor and head of the Graduate School of Photography at the Royal College of Art in London. He has published essays on the intersections of art, philosophy, and photographic practice, continually probing how constructed images can reflect personal and collective imaginaries. Through both his teaching and his art, Olivier Richon remains committed to expanding the possibilities of the photographic medium.