Hughes Dubois


Hughes Dubois is a photographer specialized in the photography of artworks.
His "photographic gaze", in the words of Danièle Gillemon, produced by a combination of staging and lighting of objects, has influenced the form of photography in many museums, institutions, art galleries and private collections.
Parallel to his career in artwork photography, Dubois has developed his own artistic practice, with works appearing in galleries and art books. Over his career spanning 40 years, his ongoing goal has been to demonstrate the great sensitivity of both tribal and classical arts.
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Biography

Dubois was born in Tournai, Belgium and took up photography at the age of twelve, taking photographs of landscapes and strangers in the street. He began his artistic training at the Écoles Supérieures des Arts Saint-Luc then embarked on architectural studies at the École Saint-Luc, before switching to study photography in Ath.
In 1977, Dubois started his professional career as an advertising photographer at the Studio Asselberghs. In 1978, he developed a passion for photographing art after seeing his first Hemba statuette.

Photography of artworks

In 1982, he set off on a voyage across the Americas with Émile Deletaille to produce several publications on pre-Columbian arts. In 1984, he met Michel Leveau, founder of the Musée Dapper in Paris, for whom he has produced thirty plus publications on African tribal arts.
In 1999, he was contacted by Jacques Kerchache in relation to his project to create the Musée du Quai Branly. Dubois photographed the works presented in the Pavillon des Sessions as an initiative to bring the tribal arts back to the Louvre. «Sculptures» would be the first work to be published by the Musée du Quai Branly, followed by others. In 2003, Dubois set up, in collaboration with Tibet specialist Amy Heller, an iconographic collection of the arts of the peoples of Himalaya for the Art Institute of Chicago. This project would lead to the publication of the book Himalayas – An Aesthetic Adventure.
In 2012, he worked for the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, taking photographs for a book presenting the Doha masterpieces at the Musée du Louvre as part of the From Cordova to Samarkand exhibition. In 2013, for the opening of the Department of Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Lebanese artist Walid Raad's exhibition featured works produced from photographs of Islamic artworks taken by Hughes Dubois. On this occasion, the Louvre Museum and the artist published Préface à la troisième édition.
Dubois has collaborated with numerous museums including: AfricaMuseum - Royal Museum for Central Africa, Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Art Institute of Chicago, King Baudouin Foundation, Fondation Dapper, Baur Foundation – Museum of Far Eastern Art, Guimet Museum, Le Louvre, Musée des arts décoratifs, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Beyeler Foundation, The Al-Mansouria Foundation For Culture and Creativity and other art collections all over the world.

Artistic work

In 2004, the exhibition Le Sensible et La Force was held at the AfricaMuseum - Royal Museum for Central Africa and an eponymous portfolio of 24 silver prints was published in a 12-copy edition. This body of work consisted in «extracting the portraits» of statues by showing their sensitivity and humanity, in order to underline their power and beauty.
In 2013, Formes et Façons was shown at the Val de Bagnes Museum and the Mauvoisin Dam.
From 2013 to 2017, Dubois worked on Borobudur Under the Full Moon, a photographic project undertaken with his wife Caroline Leloup Dubois, which took three years — and over 110 nights — to shoot the world's biggest Buddhist temple, Borobudur. Since 2018, Borobudur Under the Full Moon has toured as a travelling exhibition under the patronage of UNESCO. A limited edition of 9 copies of an eponymous portfolio in platinum palladium and an art book were published on this occasion.

Awards and recognition

In 2014, the Bismarck Archipelago Art catalogue was awarded the International Tribal Art Book Prize – the ICMA Award and the Best Photography Prize of the MGA Book Award.

Exhibitions

Since 1982, Dubois’ work has been shown in personal and group exhibitions.

Personal exhibitions

  • 1981: Voyage - Maison culturelle de la Tour Burbant, Ath, Belgium
  • 1982: Ath, ses gens, son cortège - Maison culturelle de la Tour Burbant, Ath, Belgium
  • 1986: Ouverture sur les arts africains - Musée Dapper, Paris
  • 2004: Le sensible & La force - AfricaMuseum - Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale de Tervuren, Belgium
  • 2006: Evelyne Lepage Gallery, Belgium
  • 2008: Biennale des antiquaires, Paris, Galerie 54, France
  • 2008: Biennale des antiquaires, Paris - Galerie Bernard Dulon, France
  • 2010: Collection Durand-Dessert - Monnaie de Paris, France
  • 2013: Formes & Façons – Musée de Bagne, Verbier, Switzerland
  • 2013: Monvoisin Dam, Switzerland
  • 2015: Hughes Dubois: 35 year career in photography - Parcours des Mondes, Paris
  • 2022: Hughes Dubois, sculpteur d’ombres et de lumières – Galerie Origines – Rencontres internationales de la photographie, Arles, France

Exhibitions of Caroline & Hughes Dubois

  • 2018: Borobudur Joyau de l'art bouddhique, Baur Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2018: Borobudur Under The Full Moon, Cedart Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2018: Borobudur Under The Full Moon, Musée départemental d'art religieux de Sées, France
  • 2018: Borobudur Under The Full Moon, Mairie du 1er arrondissement de Paris, France
  • 2018: Borobudur Under The Full Moon, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Indonesia
  • 2019: Bouddha La légende dorée, Guimet Museum, France

Major group exhibitions

  • 1997: État de sièges - Galerie Voutât, Geneva, Suisse
  • 2006: Galerie Forêt Verte - Paris
  • 2014: Primitivisme dans la photographie - Galerie Valois, Paris
  • 2018: Wormholes 1, Galerie Laure Roynette, Paris
  • 2018: Wormholes 2, La Ruche, Paris

Collections

Dubois' photographs have joined public and private collections all over the world.

Publications

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