Quick Facts
Biography
Georges Rousse is a French artist and photographer. He was born in 1947 in Paris, where he currently lives and works.
When he was 9 years old, Rousse received the legendary Kodak Brownie camera as a Christmas gift. Since then, the camera has never left his side. While attending medical school in Nice, he decided to study professional photography and printing techniques, then opened his own studio dedicated to architectural photography. Soon, his passion for the medium led to devote himself entirely to photography, following in the footsteps of such great American masters as Steichen, Stieglitz and Ansel Adams.
After he discovered Land Art, Malevich's Black Square Against a White Field's work. Georges Rousse altered his relationship to photography, practicing an approach that shifted the relationship of painting to space. He began making installations in the types of abandoned or derelict buildings that have long held an attraction for him—creating ephemeral, one-of-a-kind artworks by transforming these sites into pictorial spaces that are visible only in his photographs.
From the early 1980s on, Georges Rousse has chosen to show his photographs on a large scale, so that his viewers participate in the work and experience the sense of space in a compelling way.
Collapsing the usual restrictions between artistic mediums, his unique body of work quickly made its mark on the contemporary art world. Since his first exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie de France in 1981, Georges Rousse has continued creating his installations and showing his photographs around the world, in Europe, in Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Nepal), in the United States, in Quebec and in Latin America.
He has participated in numerous biennales (Paris, Venice, Sydney) and received many prestigious awards: 1983: Villa Medicis hors les murs, New York City 1985 -1987: Villa Medicis, Rome 1988: International Center of Photography Award, New York 1989: Salon de Montrouge Drawing Prize 1992: Romain Roland Fellowship, Calcutta 1993: National Grand Prix of Photography 2008: Succeeded to Sol LeWitt as an associate member of the Belgian Royal Academy
He is represented by several European galleries and his works are included in many major collections the world over.