Quote: "A photographer is an acrobat treading the high wire of chance, trying to capture shooting stars."

Guy Le Querrec joined Magnum Photos in 1976 and became a full Member in 1977.

Guy Le Querrec
French, b. 1941

Born in 1941 into a modest family from Brittany, Guy Le Querrec shot his first pictures of jazz musicians in London in the late 1950s, making his professional debut in 1967. Two years later he was hired by the weekly Jeune Afrique as picture editor and photographer; he did his first reportages in Francophone Africa, including Chad, Cameroon and Niger. In 1971 he entrusted his archives to Vu, recently founded by Pierre de Fenoyl, and in 1972 he co-founded the co-operative Viva agency, but left it three years later. Le Querrec joined Magnum in 1976. In the late 1970s he co-directed two films, and in 1980 directed the first photo-graphic 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 twenty-five 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.

Exhibitions

2006 L'Oeil de l'Eléphant, Rencontres Internationales d'Arles, France
2003 JAZZ de J à ZZ, L’Espal, Le Mans, France
2003 Rencontres internationales de D’Jazz, Nevers, France
2002 JAZZ de J à ZZ, Centro de la Imagen, Braga, Portugal
2002 Big Foot Trail, Gallery Hermès, New York, USA
1993 Quand l’oeil entend - galerie du Théatre de l’Agora, Evry, France
1993 A la recherche du père - Espace photographique de Paris, France
1993 Humour - Biennale de Montpellier, France
1992 Instants d’Instance de Michel Portal - Maison de la Culture de Loire-Atlantique,
Nantes, France
1992 Première photo - Galerie du Jour/Agnès B, Paris, France
1991 Jazz Fotos - Centres Culturels Francais in Germany and Eastern Europe
1991 Jazz e Breizh - Galerie FNAC, Rennes, France
1991 Big Foot Memorial Ride - Festival Visa pour l’image, Perpignan , France
1991 Déclics 91 - Musiques en mosa?ques, Scène Nationale d’Angoulème, France
1991 Architecture et lycées en lle-de-France - Palais de la Découverte, Paris, France
1991 Regards sur la Poste - Musée de la Poste, Paris, France
1990 In Port Expos - Le Port, lle de La Reunion, France
1989 Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, France
1988 Echos et fragments en noir et blanc - Rencontres photographiques de Carcassonne,
France
1987 Les chinoiseries en noir et blanc de Guy Le Querrec - Espace Chine, Paris, France
1986 Le Jazz se fait tirer le portrait - Festival de Paris, Paris, France
1986 Afrique, Afriques singulières, Afrique au Pluriel, Déclics 86 - Angourama,
CAC d’Angoulême, France
1985 Sérieux s’abstenir - Salon de la Photo, Paris, France
1983 Au delà du reportage - Palais des Beaux Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
1983 Jazz et photographie - Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
1983 Carte Blanche à Guy Le Querrec – Merignac, France
1981 Photoscopie 81 - Fondation des Arts graphiques et platiques, Paris, France
1980 Portugal 1974-75, Galerie Fnac Forum, Paris
1979 Les Parisiens, Salon de la Photo, Paris, France
1977/78 Quelque Part, Galerie Contrejour, Paris, France; Galerie du Chateau d'Eau,
Toulouse, France;

Books

2005 African Flashback, Label bleu, France
2001 Jazz Light and Day, Federico Motta Editore, Italy
2000/02 Sur la piste de Big Foot, Textuel, France; (On the trail to Wounded Knee -
The Big Foot Memorial Ride), The Lyons Press, USA
1999 Suites Africaines, Carnet de Routes, Label bleu, France
1997 Fran?ois Mitterrand : des temps de pose à l'Elysée, Marval, Paris, France
1996 Jazz de J à ZZ, Marval, Paris, France
1995 Carnet de Routes, Label bleu, Paris, France
1993 Jazz comme une image, Banlieues Bleues, Scandéditions, Paris, France
1991 Musicales, Trois Cailloux, Amiens, France
1988 Tête à tête : Daniel Druet, un Sculpteur et ses modèles, Carrère, France
1984 Jazz sous les platanes, Editions Java, Vitrolles, France
1979 Portugal 1974-1975 : Regards sur une tentative de pouvoir populaire,
Hier & Demain, France
1977 Quelque Part, Contrejour, Paris, France

Films

1984 La République nous appelle, in La vie en face, FR3, France
1984 Jazz impressions de Guy Le Querrec
1983 Une minute pour une image
1983 L’ennemi intérieur, FR3, France
1982 Le voyage de Rose
1981 Chasse à l’homme, TF1, France
1979 La batterie... vous rappelez pas? Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, Paris, France
1979 L’oeil au papier de verre, FR3, France
1978 Les nouveaux créateurs, TF1, France
1978 Un repas de famille, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel