Since 1968, Pierre Dury has photographed the biggest names in show-business Quebecer. At 80, he published his first book, a colossal work of 320 pages which exhibits 175 significant faces in Quebec for the last 60 years.
In the Pierre Dury library, in the Rosemont district, satchels filled with negatives and slides rub shoulders with thick volumes devoted to visual artists. His own book, titled Our free yearsis now part of the lot.
“The major reason why I made this book is that I am tanned to see the beautiful books of European and American photographers without seeing only one of Quebec,” explains the famous photographer, proud of the collection on which he has been working with obsession for three years.
Selecting the photos and structuring this book was difficult, and for good reason: hundreds of celebrities took place in front of his lens during his career. Several of his portraits are iconic, such as that of Chloé Sainte-Marie embraced an aging Gilles Carle. René Lévesque, Michel Chartrand, Félix Leclerc, Renée Claude, Ginette Reno, Lise Watier, Dominique Michel, Michel Tremblay, Pascale Bussières, Diane Tell, Yvon Deschamps, Robert Charlebois … The list could continue for a long time.
Mr. Dury chose to tell his own journey through all these significant meetings. In the early 1970s, he first came into contact with the artistic universe as a photographer for Quebecor publications as Stars, Photo stars et Illustrated news.
“When I bought my camera, I never thought of making money. I was thinking of having fun. And the fandthey were girls, singers, actors. Music and cinema, I wanted to enter this world, ”he said, seated in his office with The duty.
Diane Dukenne a Marjo
Her meeting with a Diane Dufresne at the start of her career is decisive, since she asks her to make the cover of her first album, Here is bin… I arrive!. “She broke the barracks, everyone was fascinated. And I made all his photos, ”said Mr. Dury. To his greatest happiness, several other artists then entrust their record covers to him.
Versatile, he also has a career as a set photographer on more than a hundred film and television shoots. Another memorable experience for him is his coverage of the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976.
A section of his book is also dedicated to Marjolaine Morin, alias Marjo, with which he was in a relationship for five years before his singer career. His youthful love also signs a word in his work, stressing that they “stay[t] united and united for the whole of life ”.
-In the past 20 years, Mr. Dury has invited several public figures to be immortalized in his studio at home. “I really like to do portraits. We are billions of human beings and there are not two like, ”he underlines.
He continues to provide his works to Café Cherrier, on rue Saint-Denis, where they are on display at all times. “It could be pleasant to portray young people, because they are all old people I exhibit, people of my generation. »»
Moving faces
To get a nice photo, the photographer always works the same way. After having meticulously adjusting the light, he welcomes his subjects and Jase with them to put them at ease, arouse emotions and capture the moment. The result are living looks and spontaneous expressions.
Even if the book has a section devoted to the 2000s, where we see personalities like Ariane Moffatt, Daniel Boucher and Véronique Cloutier, it is especially the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who are in the spotlight. Mr. Dury believes that he had lived in a wonderful time, real “free years”, those who followed the Quiet Revolution and Expo 67.
“Everything exploded, the horizons opened. This is why my photos take on a historical value, ”says the octogenarian artist.
The Quebec star-system was then made up of a smaller core of highly publicized stars, he recalls. His book is also a tribute to these “initiators”. “Before Yvon Deschamps, there was not really stand-up comic. […] Now, my 14-year-old granddaughter does not even know Gilles Vigneault. But the fact remains that the laborers of the country were these people with whom we were standing. »»
His photo book will undoubtedly nostalgic for those who have experienced this unique period, while he will fascinate those who will discover it.
