Poison Ivy (The Cramps), 1990

Renaud Monfourny  

Renaud Monfourny was born in 1962 in Reims and spent his childhood in the countryside. As a teenager, he began photography in a photo club in Soissons. His first camera was his father's Voigtlander, quickly followed by a Lubitel, which turned out to be his first contact with the 6x6 format that he would later cherish so much.
He left for Belgium to study photography at the Institut Communal des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels. A school that, at the time, had a higher section in photography and cinema, mainly technical. At the same time, he taught himself the history of art and photography. Back in France, he taught photography at the Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-Conflans, he was just 21 years old, the age of many of his students, and settled in Paris.

He participated in the creation of several newspapers, one of which would continue, , and he began to publish his photographs in the press. His first editorial pride was the illustration, with a photographic essay made at the Cité des 4000 in La Courneuve, of a conversation between François Mitterrand and Marguerite Duras in Michel Butel's fabulous monthly. Although he would only photograph President Mitterrand surreptitiously in 1987, in 1990 he would spend two afternoons at Marguerite Duras's apartment on rue Saint Benoît, to conduct an interview and portraits published in , which had then become a leading newspaper. He also wrote there under the pseudonyms Bates and Lise Deleuze.

He will now devote himself to the newspaper, which became a weekly in 1995, where he continues to play an editorial role that will allow him to share his tastes with a readership that is becoming increasingly loyal.
Known for his portraits, he imprints his sensitivity on the rest of his visual artistic production less known to the general public: nudes, landscapes, dead animals, still lifes, abstractions...

Since 2009, through a blog hosted on the Inrocks website, he has echoed cultural news by photographing its actors, emerging or confirmed. A new media, a new medium: he has transposed his writing into digital and color, with more than 2,200 photos published to date. At the same time, he continues his film activity in black and white in 6x6 format.

Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Jean-Luc Godard, Björk, Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Soulages, Leonard Cohen, Tim Burton, Maurice Pialat, Woody Allen, Lou Reed, Clint Eastwood, Patti Smith, Kurt Cobain, Paul Auster, Gilbert and George, Morrissey, Marguerite Duras, Leonard Cohen, Gerhard Richter, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Houellebecq, Quentin Tarantino, Neil Young, Isabella Rossellini, the list is endless but the pleasure of encounters is always renewed.

His photographs have been used for a large number of book and record covers. His works are present in the homes of private collectors in France and abroad.
His photographs have been used for a large number of book and record covers. His works are present among private collectors in France and abroad.