Harry Gruyaert: Between Worlds

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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.

Early Life and Career Harry Gruyaert studied at the School of Film and Photography in Brussels from 1959 to 1962. After completing his studies, he moved to Paris to work as a freelance photographer. In 1969, he traveled to the United States, where he was introduced to the work of American photographers such as William Eggleston and Saul Leiter. Their use of color deeply influenced Gruyaert's approach to photography.Gallery FIFTY ONE is proud to announce its 4th solo exhibition by Belgian photographer Harry Gruyaert (b.1941). Born in Antwerp in 1941, Harry Gruyaert is renowned for his saturated color photography that explores the Harry Gruyaert: Edges" is a stunning collection in which Gruyaert explores the visual power of shorelines. This unique volume takes the reader to various locations around the world where humans meet the water's edge. Gruyaert's landscapes are never empty, and his images weave a serene, sublime scene where light, color, objects, people, and situations come together harmoniously.

Harry Gruyaert: Last Call" highlights Gruyaert's signature ability to seamlessly weave texture, light, color, and architecture into a single frame with photographs taken at airports. This collection beautifully captures these liminal, yet reliably inhabited spaces, showcasing the creative possibilities of color photography in striking and sometimes surprising ways. Quotes Harry Gruyaert‘s embrace of color photography set him ahead of many contemporaries in Europe at a time when the medium was widely seen as most applicable to the realm of commercial and advertising photography. Yet Gruyaert’s interest in colour was not the only thing that set him apart from his peers, as he explained in an interview with The British Journal of Photography: “In Europe and especially France, there’s a humanistic tradition of people lik e Robert Doisneau and Willy Ronis where the most important thing is the people, not so much the environment. I admired it, but I was never linked to it. I was much more interested in all the elements: the decor and the lighting and all the cars: the details were as important as humans. That’s a different attitude altogether.” 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. 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. In "Harry Gruyaert: Between Worlds", Gruyaert's mastery of color-saturated atmospheres is showcased through a collection of his most cinematic images. The book dissolves the boundaries between exterior and interior spaces, creating a luminous alchemy suspended in time. This collection of seventy-five images highlights Gruyaert's skill in capturing the complexity and plasticity of space, immersing the viewer in a captivating world.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. the book accompanying this exhibition, these images are all ''made at those complicated yet poetic points

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. In conclusion, Harry Gruyaert's innovative use of color and his keen eye for capturing the essence of a place have solidified his position as a master of street photography. His legacy continues to inspire and influence photographers around the world, proving that color can be a powerful tool in creating compelling, thought-provoking images. As a reviewer, it is hard to write anything not already said more eloquently in David Campany’s excellent essay. Rarely has the marriage of written word and expansive visual risk-taking been so satisfying. Between Worldsis thus best enjoyed by embracing his excitement for the power of color, shape, timing, discovery. Through Gruyaert’s eyes, and the brilliant editing of Between Worlds, we seek not answers to what we are looking at. Rather, we delight in being presented with intriguing and playful questions.

FIFTY ONE TOO

In 'Between Worlds' - accompanying the launch in October of an eponymous book published by Thames & TV Shots" (2007), a collection of images taken from television screens during the 1970s and 1980s, offering a unique perspective on the media landscape of the time.