French Landscapes

Cuisset, ThibaultThibault Cuisset was born in Maubeuge, France, in 1958 and today lives and works in Montreuil. Since 1985 he has photographed the landscapes of countries as diverse as Morocco, Japan, Iceland, Spain, Namibia, Australia, and, with particular dedication, that of France. In 1992-93 Cuisset worked at the Villa Medici in Rome producing his "Paysages d'Italie" series, and in 1997 he was resident at Kyoto's Villa Kujoyama where he created "Campagne Japonaise." In 2009 Cuisset was awarded the Prix de la photographie de l'Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris.

This book is the first English-language overview of the landscape photography of Thibaut Cuisset, who over the last 30 years has explored issues and emotions specific to the landscape, environment and the notion of territory. Cuisset has traveled widely and photographed the landscapes of many countries, yet he inevitably returns to the terrain of his native France and its infinite variety.With a contemporary acuity aligned with the New Topographics photographers, Cuisset captures the French landscape without frills or nostalgia, and reveals it to be the result of historic layers and constant human interventions. The land is perpetually being shaped and transformed, and Cuisset's quiet lens and restrained virtuosity of color record and authenticate these sometimes subtle processes. The images in this book are tranquil, direct, and often imbued with a sense of life despite the absence of human figures. They form a lyrical atlas of the French landscape, and show just how fragile the land's state of balance and upheaval is.