Francois Halard – författare

The master photographer’s compelling images of his two most intimate passions: art and flowers.“His photography has an innate capacity to evoke emotion and tell stories that linger in the mind long after the image is seen,” writes Dries Van Noten in the foreword to this two-volume series of images.Long revered for his personal photography of the world’s most celebrated buildings and interiors, Halard strikes a new path with two new bodies of work. Confined to his house in Arles after a shoulder injury in early 2024, Halard began photographing the objects immediately surrounding him with his Polaroid camera. In turns traditional and abstract, the Flowers series is a captivating exploration of nature’s beauty. As beautifully described by fashion designer Dries Van Noten, “The Polaroid captures a fleeting moment, blossoming into a lasting memory, while the real flower, vibrant and alive, ultimately withers away, reminding us that beauty can be both preserved and ephemeral.”In the second series, Art, Halard has enlarged a select number of his Polaroids, which he then worked on top with paint, wax, and other materials to give the final results a strong, layered sense of history and memory. Many of the images are made of ancient statuaries or details of Renaissance paintings from Italy and Greece—the tight crop of a marble head, or the folds of 15th-century drapery. “I am delving into the idea that antiquity can be modern,” Halard states in his interview with art curator Bice Curiger, “I like to start with a specific object to turn it into another, transitory object.” Halard’s transformation of the ephemeral into the permanent, in the case of his flowers; and the permanent into the ephemeral, in the case of his Classical-inspired artworks—give power and beauty to these compelling images.

This volume presents the famed photographer's newest lush images of the stunning interiors of acclaimed designers, artists, and tastemakers.Francois Halard's unique photographic sensibility--old-world elegant and bohemian, accessible and personal--is unmistakable. Each image is imbued with the intimate knowledge of design history, each story a lesson in a master's point of view.This book is a continuation of his last volume of gorgeous photography of grand interiors, artists' studios, and architectural pilgrimage sites. Each story's subject matter is not just a personal passion of the photographer, but also an indispensable chapter in design history: Philip Johnson and Charles James's de Menil House, Giorgio Morandi's studio, Rick Owens's radical Paris apartment, Eileen Gray's recently restored modernist home on the French coast, Dries Van Noten's verdant garden and home, the home and studio of Louise Bourgeois in New York, and many more.Like his first book, Francois Halard: A Photographic Life will be a coveted, indispensable must-have visual resource for all lovers of interiors, glamour, and style.

Over the past three decades, Vincent Van Duysen has become an important force in design through his expressive architecture and serene interiors. This book documents the source of his inspirations and ongoing laboratory: his own homes.Vincent Van Duysen has had an outsized influence on the world of architecture and design, from the rarefied echelons of interiors to highly successful collections for Zara Home and a nearly decade-long creative directorship of Molteni&C. Through his spare use of pure and tactile materials, Van Duysen employs a unique stylistic language that is both monastic and sensual, brutal and elegant, primal and refined. His commissions have included product design for numerous international brands, and commercial and large-scale architectural projects, among them high-end residences, a hotel, and retail spaces.Uncompromisingly contemporary and endlessly inventive, Van Duysen’s residences are both his design laboratories and highly individualized spaces. This is especially true of his own homes, the subject of this very personal book. From his base in Belgium, where Van Duysen has carved out modern spaces from a centuries-old former notary office, to his ground-up Casa M in Portugal, where living spaces flow between elemental walls, Van Duysen conjures residential projects from concrete, natural stone, wood, and light.In collaborating with the photographer François Halard, Van Duysen presents a truly personal vision of his own practice and point of view, where he becomes the architecture, and it becomes him.

From Vincent Darré, a French dandy and eccentric decorator, this volume offers a fanciful look into his unique universe of artful interiors.Known for his dynamic personality and extravagant style, Vincent Darré--the enfant terrible of Paris's design world--presents a debut monograph brimming with his hallmark flamboyant whimsy, unrivaled imagination, and Gallic flair. As a fixture of the city's nightlife scene and member of its exclusive artistic circles, Darré is arguably one of its most creative residents (prior to launching his decorating career, he held posts at top fashion houses)--which comes through in his instantly recognizable interiors: think Surrealist furniture, dizzying patterns, and spirited color combinations. Boasting over 200 vibrantly colored photographs, this exquisite tome takes readers on a journey into Darré's world of conversation-starting spaces. From his signature furnishings, such as the Grenouille nightstand, and maximalist use of prints (cue the Little Prince Bedroom), to his expert use of vivid hues, he offers an intimate glimpse into the singular, utterly enthralling universe of one of the design world's most eccentric, quirky, and celebrated members.