Harry Gruyaert, born in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1941, studied at the School of Film and Photography in Brussels from 1959 to 1962. Then he became a photographer in Paris, while working as a freelance director of photography for Flemish television between 1963 and 1967.
In 1969, he made the first of many trips to Morocco. From 1970 to 1972 he lived in London. This is an opportunity for unprecedented visual experiments: he decided to "cover" the Munich Olympics of 1972 and the first Apollo flights, on a broken TV screen he has at its disposal, by manipulating the colors.
Between 1973 and 1980, he began a long essay on Belgium first in black and white and then in color.
Harry Gruyaert joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and continues many trips including Asia, USA, Middle East and Russia.
In the 2000s Harry Gruyaert abandons film to digital photography. Very concerned about the quality of prints made previously in Cibachrome and sometimes dye transfer, he experimented early in the inkjet printing. Better suited to revealing the rich shades found in his films, digital print opens new possibilities for his work, bringing it one step closer to his original intention, namely to give color the means to assert its true existence.
Awards
1976 Kodak Prize
Individual Exhibitions
2013 Tribute to Antonioni, Galerie Cinema, Paris – France.
Roots. Magnum Gallery, Paris – France.
2012 Roots. Botanique, Brussels. Belgium.
2012 Moscow 1989-2009. Moscow Photobiennale 2012 – Le Manège, Moscow. Russia.
2011 De ci de là, Box Galerie, Brussels – Belgium.
Rivages, Galerie du Faouédic (19e Rencontres Photographiques du Pays
de Lorient), Lorient – France.
2010 Moscow 1989-2009, GlazGallery, Moscow – Russia.
2009 Une prétendue réalité, MagnumGallery, Paris – France.
Marruecos, fundacion Tres Culturas, Sevilla – Spain.
2008 Rivages, Bon Marché, Paris - France.
TV Shots, Phillipps de Pury gallery, Cologne – Germany.
TV Shots, Installation at Passage du Désir, Euro-RSCG, Paris – France.
2007 TV Shots, Phillips de Pury gallery, New York – USA.
2006 Morocco, Leica Gallery, Frankfurt – Germany. 2006
Rivages, Foundacion Caixa Galicia Lugo and Vigo – Spain.
2004 Parcours, Projection Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles – France.
Rivages, Galerie St-Père, Paris – France.
Rivages, Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles – France.
2002 Morocco, Carlos de Amberes Foundation, Madrid - Spain (tour exhibit in Spain).
2000 Made in Belgium – Museum Voor Fotografie, Antwerp - Belgium. [Catalogue]
1999 Made in Belgium - Gallery Fnac, Brussels – Belgium.
Morocco - Laumont Editions gallery, New York – USA.
1998 Lumières blanches - Fotofest, Houston - USA; Gallery Mistral, Montreal – Canada.
1997 Morocco - Andersen Consulting, Paris – France.
1995 Morocco - tour exhibit in several french cultural centers in Morocco.
1990 Harry Gruyaert Fotografías - Canal de Isabel II, Madrid – Spain.
1986 Lumières blanches - Palais de Tokyo, Paris – France.
1980 Made in Belgium - Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels – Belgium.
1978/80 Morocco - Delpire Gallery, Paris – France.
International Culture Center, Anvers – Belgium.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels – Belgium.
Franska Institutet, Stockholm – Sweden.
1974/76 TV Shots - Delpire Gallery, Paris – France.
Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels – Belgium.
International Center of Photography, New York - USA.
Collective exhibitions (selection) :
2013 Planches Contact, Deauville Photography festival. France.
Raw Materials, Foto/Industria, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy.
No place like home, 5th Mannheim Fotofestival, Germany
2012 A question of colour,Positive View Foundation – Somerset House, London. UK.
2011 In the Margin, Belgium Documentary Photography, Museum Dr Guislain,
Gent – Belgium.
2010 Moscow 1989-2009, Philippe Chaume gallery, Paris – France.
TV Shots - Galerie Zander, Cologne, Germany.
2009 Short Stories, Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich – Switzerland.
2007 L’Image d’Après, Cinémathèque Française, Paris – France.
1999 Magnum°, BNF, Paris – France.
1996 Tokyo Today, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo – Japon.
1989 Magnum In Our Time, Palais de Tokyo, Paris – France.
1986 The New Color Photojournalism, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis – Etats-Unis.
Books
2013 Morocco, Textuel Ed. – France.
2012 Roots, Hannibal/Xavier Barral co-ed. – Belgium/France.
2010 Moscow 1989-2009, Be-Pôles Ed. – France.
2008 Rivages(new edition), Textuel Ed. – France.
2007 TV Shots, Steidl – Germany.
2006 Photo Poche, Actes Sud – France.
2003 Rivages, Textuel Ed. – France.
2000 Made in Belgium, Nathan/Delpire – France.
1990 Morocco, Schirmer & Mosel – Germany – France – USA.
1986 Lumières Blanches, Centre National de la Photographie – France.
Collections
MAST – Foto Industria – Bologna, Italy.
Fondation d’Entreprise Hermes – Paris, France.
Randsom Center collection – Austin, Texas.
Lhoist collection – Belgium.
NSM. Vie/Abn Amro – Paris.
Fond National d’Art Contemporain – Paris, France.
Bibliothèque Nationale de France – Paris, France.
Centre Georges Pompidou – Paris, France.
Metropolitan Museum – Tokyo, Japan.
Musée de la Photographie – Charleroi, Belgium.
Howard Stein collection – New York, USA.
David Roberts collection – London, UK.