Jean-Pierre Sudre, on view at Gitterman Gallery from September 8 to October 31, 2026, presents vintage photographic work from the 1960s and 1970s by the French photographer (1921–1997) who pioneered experimental techniques that amplified the abstract and suggested both spiritual and metaphysical concerns. A masterful technician in the darkroom, Sudre employed and created innovative processes that transformed photography into a medium capable of evoking nature's infinite textures and patterns. His work evolved from early photographs of nature toward the micro, creating crystals on glass plates that he would use as negatives in camera-less photographs known as cliché verre.
Sudre is best known for his invention of the Mordançage technique, which he developed based on a late nineteenth-century process known as etch-bleach. The Mordançage solution includes hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, and copper chloride. Once a fully processed gelatin silver print was immersed in the solution, the print became bleached, and the areas with the most silver—the most exposed and thus darkest areas of the image—would swell and lift off the paper base. Sudre would then wipe them away, leaving an outline of the latent image. Next, he would thoroughly wash the print and redevelop it, using a variety of developers in differing ratios, often making his own photographic chemistry. He was therefore able to achieve a range of colors from the various toners he used and by letting the developer oxidize. His dynamic and expressive use of color became an integral part of his work.
Born in Paris in 1921, Sudre studied at l'École Nationale de Photographie et de Cinématographie and at l'Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques. Due to limited opportunities in cinema, he decided to become a professional photographer. Growing up, his family owned a property surrounded by woods; it was there that he became entranced by nature. In addition to his commitment to his own work, Sudre was an influential teacher in both traditional and experimental photography. He created the photographic department at the School of Graphic Art in Paris. In 1974, Sudre and his wife Claudine, a fine photographer and printer in her own right, moved to Lacoste and opened a research center, later named the Association for Professional Training and Research in Photography, where photographers would spend nine months immersed in photography.
During his lifetime, Sudre's work was exhibited throughout Europe, including the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris and the Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels. He was featured in the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition A European Experiment in 1967 along with Denis Brihat and Pierre Cordier, an exhibition curated by John Szarkowski emphasizing color and texture and the physicality of photo-based work. Sudre's work is represented in international institutional collections including the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; Cincinnati Art Museum; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Gernsheim Collection, University of Texas, Austin; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Musée Nicéphore-Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Princeton University Art Museum; Saint Louis Art Museum; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. By the 1970s, Sudre had begun to combine cliché verre images with photograms and even found illustrations, emphasizing the symbolism in his work with his titles.
Image: Matériographie, 1970. Vintage toned gelatin silver print; Mordançage © Jean-Pierre Sudre, courtesy of the Gitterman Gallery
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