15 Facts About Lucien Clergue

Lucien Clergue was Chairman of the Academy of Fine Arts, Paris for 2013.

Lucien Clergue worked on a series whose subject was carrion.

On 4 November 1955 Lucien Clergue visited Picasso in Cannes, France.

In 1968, and with his friend Michel Tournier, Lucien Clergue founded the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival which is held annually in July in Arles.

Lucien Clergue illustrated books, among them a book by writer Yves Navarre.

Lucien Clergue took many photographs of the gypsies of southern France, and was instrumental in propelling the guitarist Manitas de Plata to fame.

Lucien Clergue's photographs are in the collections of numerous well-known museums and private collectors.

Lucien Clergue's photographs have been exhibited in over 100 solo exhibitions worldwide, with noted exhibitions such as in 1961, at the Museum of Modern Art New York, the last exhibition organized by Edward Steichen with Lucien Clergue, Bill Brandt and Yasuhiro Ishimoto.

In 2007, the city of Arles honored Lucien Clergue and dedicated a retrospective collection of 360 of his photographs dating from 1953 to 2007.

Lucien Clergue was represented on the West Coast by Louis Stern Fine Arts.

Lucien Clergue was named Knight of the Legion d'honneur in 2003 and elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France on 31 May 2006, at the same time as a new section dedicated to photography was created.

Lucien Clergue was the first photographer to enter the Academy to a position devoted specifically to photography.

Lucien Clergue was Chairman of the Academy of Fine Arts for 2013.

Lucien Clergue was married to the art curator Yolande Clergue, founder of The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles.

Lucien Clergue was the father of two daughters: Anne Clergue, a curator of contemporary art who has worked at Leo Castelli Gallery, and Olivia Clergue, a handbag fashion designer whose godfather was Pablo Picasso.