This unique set of 96 diapostives is the core of Pierre Dubreuil’s legacy. During World War II, Dubreuil’s original negatives were tragically destroyed by fire and, as a result, no prints by Dubreuil are known to exist for 32 of the images in this set.
The set includes images produced from 1901-1930, however the majority are images produced from 1925 to 1930 – after the photographer lived in Paris and by the time he was fully a Modernist.
Dubreuil apparently made this set for a presentation to the Association Belge de Photographie upon his assuming its presidency in 1930. No other diapositives by Dubreuil are known to exist, making this a nearly complete overview of the photographer’s most recognized images.
French born, Dubreuil was an extremely astute photographer who created beautiful and complex images. He did not “take” photographs, he “made” them.
Dubreuil battled for self-expression, first against the conservative faction of Pictorialism, and later as a Modernist. He was always recognized, but his unique and complex art was never completely understood. Dubreuil embraced the bizarre, reveled in eccentricity, and challenged his viewers with his puzzle pictures.
Today Pierre Dubreuil’s photographs are being re-considered as some of the most interesting proto-Modernist and Modernist work created in the first three decades of the 20th Century.