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Hughes Dubois (born 6 May 1957 in Tournai, Belgium), is a photographer specialized in the photography of artworks.
His “photographic gaze”, in the words of Danièle Gillemon, produced by a combination of staging and lighting of objects, has influenced the form of photography in many museums, institutions, art galleries and private collections.[1][2]
Parallel to his career in artwork photography, Hughes Dubois has developed his own artistic practice, with works appearing in galleries and art books. Over his career spanning 40 years, his ongoing goal has been to demonstrate the great sensitivity of both tribal and classical arts.[3]
Biography
Hughes Dubois took up photography at the age of twelve, taking photographs of landscapes and strangers in the street. He began his artistic training at the Écoles Supérieures des Arts Saint-Luc (Mons, Belgium) then embarked on architectural studies at the École Saint-Luc (Brussels, Belgium), before switching to study photography in Ath (Belgium).
In 1977, Hughes Dubois started his professional career as an advertising photographer at the Studio Asselberghs (Belgium). In 1978, he developed a passion for photographing art after seeing his first Hemba statuette.
Photography of artworks
In 1982, he set off on a voyage across the Americas with Émile Deletaille to produce several publications on pre-Columbian arts. In 1984, he met Michel Leveau, founder of the Musée Dapper in Paris, for whom he has produced thirty plus publications on African tribal arts.[2]
In 1999, he was contacted by Jacques Kerchache in relation to his project to create the Musée du Quai Branly. Dubois photographed the works presented in the Pavillon des Sessions as an initiative to bring the tribal arts back to the Louvre. «Sculptures» would be the first work to be published by the Musée du Quai Branly, followed by others. In 2003, Dubois set up, in collaboration with Tibet specialist Amy Heller, an iconographic collection of the arts of the peoples of Himalaya for the Art Institute of Chicago. This project would lead to the publication of the book Himalayas – An Aesthetic Adventure.
In 2012, he worked for the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, taking photographs for a book presenting the Doha masterpieces at the Musée du Louvre as part of the From Cordova to Samarkand exhibition. In 2013, for the opening of the Department of Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Lebanese artist Walid Raad's exhibition featured works produced from photographs of Islamic artworks taken by Hughes Dubois. On this occasion, the Louvre Museum and the artist published Préface à la troisième édition.
In 2004, the exhibition Le Sensible et La Force was held at the AfricaMuseum - Royal Museum for Central Africa (Brussels, Belgium) and an eponymous portfolio of 24 silver prints was published in a 12-copy edition. This body of work consisted in «extracting the portraits» of statues by showing their sensitivity and humanity, in order to underline their power and beauty.[3]
From 2013 to 2017, Dubois worked on Borobudur Under the Full Moon, a photographic project undertaken with his wife Caroline Leloup Dubois, which took three years — and over 110 nights — to shoot the world's biggest buddhist temple, Borobudur (Indonesia). Since 2018, Borobudur Under the Full Moon has toured as a travelling exhibition under the patronage of UNESCO. A limited edition of 9 copies of an eponymous portfolio in platinum palladium and an art book were published on this occasion.
Awards and recognition
In 2014, the Bismarck Archipelago Art catalogue was awarded the International Tribal Art Book Prize – the ICMA Award and the Best Photography Prize of the MGA Book Award.[5][6][7]
Exhibitions
Since 1982, Hughes Dubois’ work has been shown in personal and group exhibitions.
Personal exhibitions
1981: Voyage - Maison culturelle de la Tour Burbant, Ath, Belgium
1982: Ath, ses gens, son cortège - Maison culturelle de la Tour Burbant, Ath, Belgium
1986: Ouverture sur les arts africains - Musée Dapper, Paris
2004: Le sensible & La force - AfricaMuseum - Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale de Tervuren, Belgium[3][8][9][10][11]
2006: Evelyne Lepage Gallery, Belgium
2008: Biennale des antiquaires, Paris, Galerie 54, France
2008: Biennale des antiquaires, Paris - Galerie Bernard Dulon, France
Anne Leurquin; Jan Debbaut; Herman Burssens; Elze Bruyninx; Marie-Louise Bastin; Joseph Cornet (1988). Utotombo L'Art d'Afrique noire dans les collections privées belges. Bruxelles: Société des expositions du Palais des Beaux arts. p. 337.
Valérie Beau; Laurence Husson; Christiane Flagayrettes; Phyllis M. Martin; Adams Jones (1989). Objets interdits. Paris: Musée Fondation Dapper. p. 375. ISBN9782906067097.
Le chameau chinois du Musée Guimet. Paris: Musée Guimet. 2001. p. 59.
Pratapaditya Pal; Amy Heller (2003). Himalayas – An Aesthetic Adventure, Pratapaditya Pal, Amy Heller, 2003, Art Institue of Chicago, Chicago. Chicago: Art Institue of Chicago. p. 312. ISBN978-0520239005.
Peter Fuhring; Michèle Bimbenet-Privat; Alexis Kugel (2005). Orfèvrerie francaise. La Collection Jourdan-Barry. Paris: J.Kugel. p. 285. OCLC70187494.
Geneviève Le Fort (2005). Maîtres des Amériques : hommage aux artistes précolombiens : la collection Dora et Paul Janssen. Bruxelles: Fonds Mercator. ISBN9789085865797.[20]
Herman Burssens; Marnix Neerman (2006). African Faces - Un hommage au masque africain (in Dutch and French). Brussels: Editions Lannoo. p. 312. ISBN9789020982527.[21]
Évelyne Lepage (2013). Formes & façons dans le patrimoine du val de Bagnes (in French and English). Milan: Éditions 5 Continents. p. 141. ISBN9788874395460.
Kevin Conru; Klaus-Jochen Krüger; Ingrid Heermann; Bart Van Bussel; Hughes Dubois (2013). L'art de l'archipel Bismark. Milan: Éditions 5 Continents. p. 327. ISBN9788874396443.
^Séphora Thomas (Spring–Summer 2004). "Le sensible et la force". Art Tribal (en français) (5): 60-73.
^Philippe Bourgoin (Spring–Summer 2004). "La redoutable statuaire Songye d'Afrique centrale". Art Tribal (en français) (5): 74-85.
^Anne-Marie Bouttiaux (Summer 2004). "Sensitivity and Power: A Photographic Homage to Songye Sculptors". Tribal Art (35): 64-69.
^Raoul Lehuard (Summer 2004). "Le sensible et la force : photographies de Hughes Dubois et sculptures Songye". Arts d'Afrique noire, arts premiers: 49-52.
