Born: August 7, 1910

 

Died: June 26, 2007 ( Age: 96)

 

Lucien Hervé is a well known French architectural photographer who sadly died at the age of 96 in 2007.

He is most well known for his work at Le Corbusier.

Lucien Hervé was mentioned as a rare type of photographer who combines a simple outlook with an architect's eye. His charismatic style of putting a frame around his images including his oblique views that the picture can give. His work tends to fall almost into an abstract image,  which separates his work from the current time, and this makes the pictures he takes stand out from the crowd.

 

How He Takes Photographs

Lucien Hervé took his photographs on a traditional film camera, and always in black and white, not just because it looks sharper and clearer, but because he could not afford colour film. His typical style was cropped frames which mean he cut the edges off of his photos with scissors. He also played with angle and perspective in his photos.

He often used shadows in his photos to add contrast to his images. However, this was an unoriginal technique,

this is why he played with angles and lighting.

His photos in the 20th century were referred to as minimalist, with not much occurring in the frame.

History

In 1941 Lucien's friend Pere Couturier introduced him to a Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier, he saw the potential and said this inspirational quote "you have the eye of an architect". Le Corbusier hired Lucien as a personal photographer and they worked together for 20 years!

Since this time Lucien Hervè's work has made its way to many exhibitions such as, The Rencontres d'Arles festival which was his first one, followed by, Architecture de l'ombre / Le Beau court la rue" The Rencontres d'Arles festival and 26 more.

"He was one of the best architectural photographers in the world"

 

 

Below you will find Lucien Hervé's work in a gallery followed by my photographic interpretation of his work.