Georges Poncet

Georges Poncet is a fine-art photographer born in 1961. He lives and works in Paris. After studying visual arts at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, Georges Poncet follows his main interest: photography. Passionate about painting and sculpture, he photographs works of art. He is a photographer for the Louvre Museum since 1997, and takes photographs of the Egyptian pieces in the museum. His other specialty is contemporary art - his work on (and for) Soulages is remarkable. That is the professional photographer side of his career.

"Sfumato" is an innovation brought by Leonardo Da Vinci to painting, and it consists of obtaining a mist through the overlapping of layers of color. It is described by the master as "no lines or contours, as smoke, beyond the focal plane". Georges Poncet applies this technique to photography.

This blurring of the image questions the very meaning of photography: isn’t it supposed to depict an objective truth, to present us a clear, sharp image ? Poncet’s work answers the question: his photos are the emotional trace left by the gaze. Art, as life, is the overlapping of feelings.

Beyond the technique – which is singular and of a great mastery - Poncet operates a fascinating mise en abîme. He chooses of essential artworks from the history of art, familiar to us through their iconic beauty, and photographs them "beyond the focal plane". We recognize them immediately and we look at them differently: through this mist of blurred contours, feelings, sensations and mysteries invisible to the naked eye emerge.