Guy Le Querrec

Born in Paris in 1941 into a modest family from Brittany, Guy Le Querrec acquired his first camera, an Ultra Fex, as a Christmas present in 1953. He shot his first pictures of jazz musicians in London in 1962, and made his professional debut in 1967. The weekly periodical Jeune Afrique published one of his photographs of the events of May 1968, as well as his first reportages on the Paris Jazz Festival and Morocco, and hired him as picture editor and photographer; he did several reportages in the Maghreb and Francophone Africa.

In 1971, he entrusted his archives to Vu, recently founded by Pierre de Fenoÿl, and in 1972 he co-founded the co-operative Viva agency, but left it three years later. Le Querrec joined Magnum Photos in 1976, becoming a full member the following year. In the late 1970s, he co-directed two films, and in 1980, directed the first photographic workshop organized by the City of Paris. During the Rencontres d’Arles in 1983, he created a new form of show by projecting photographs alongside a live quartet of jazz musicians, repeating the experiment in 1993 and 2006.

Le Querrec has undertaken numerous reportages on the Concert Mayol in Paris, subjects in China and Africa, and North American Indians. He punctuates his work with breaks devoted to jazz (festivals, clubs and tours), and has traveled through 25 African countries with the Romano–Sclavis–Texier trio.

Le Querrec’s background in jazz has informed his photography. He sees everyday scenes as a musical score, played or activated by natural forces. Sun rays in a café could be a cry or a trumpet call; Spanish workers resting on the edge of a limestone quarry are musical notations in a solo piece.

Le Querrec has also devoted much time to teaching workshops and classes in France and other countries. He has exhibited regularly throughout the world.