
Troubles, 2013 © Julien Magre, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon
The exhibition showcases as many as 85 prints, building a unique dialog between these four photographers from the four corners of the globe. While they may be separated by distance and age, they all belong to the tradition of photographic flaneurie. Following in the footsteps of Eugene Atget and Walker Evans, Saul Leiter and Luigi Ghirri, the featured images demonstrate the beauty of walking and travel—inexhaustible sources of photographic inspiration.

Quadrille, Beauvais, France, 2017 © Serge Clément, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère
To seize the moment
A parted curtain, a shaft of sunlight like a luminous vanishing-point perspective against dark floorboards, a shadow falling across a face, a black cat and a white cat as the only living presences in an otherwise mineral composition: these are just a few subtle, fleeting details that elude us… A plethora of such singular moments offer themselves up to us with unexpected grace.
We recognize Serge Clément’s fondness for windows—astonishing reflective surfaces that invite visual experimentation. Take for example the image of the door of a residential building in Beauvais, transected by rhythmic lines and intricate geometric perspectives. The photographer’s eye, always attentive to minutiae, penetrates crevices, catches a fortuitous shadow falling across a flight of stairs—these are enough breathe life into the space.

Porquerolles, 1976 © Bernard Plossu, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon
Serendipity
How to find this “poetry of the real”? This obsession has become a driving force that compels the four photographers to travel from Mexico to France, from Naples to Tokyo, without ever forgetting that an exotic destination is no guarantee for poetry.
Although true poetry demands years of observation, it nevertheless is a fruit of chance. Scientists speak of serendipity when referring to the lucky discovery of an unexpected breakthrough, chanced upon just as one was looking for something else. Indefatigable travelers, these four photographers take us on a journey from city to city, inviting us to follow them in their quest.

Cuauhtemoc, 2001 © Baudoin Lotin, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon

Duché, Guise, France, 2017 – © Serge Clément, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon

Níjar, Almeria, 1992 © Bernard Plossu, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon

La moindre lumière, 2018 © Julien Magre, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon

San Rafael, Sierra Madre occidentale, Mexique, 1982 © Baudoin Lotin, Courtesy Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon
By Coline Olsina
La poésie abstraite du réel. Serge Clément, Baudoin Lotin, Bernard Plossu, Julien Magre
From January 25 to April 20, 2019
Galerie Le Réverbère, 38, rue Burdeau, 69001 Lyon