Show: Ralph Gibson, The Black Trilogy at the Pavillon Populaire, Montpellier

In 1973 Ralph Gibson published his first photobook, The Somnambulist; he followed up with Déjà Vu in 1973, and Days at Sea in 1974. Together the books form a trilogy which has been credited with re-imagining the modern photobook; all three were published by Lustrum Press, an organisation formed by Gibson to retain creative control of his work. Now more than 150 images from the trilogy – aka The Black Trilogy – will be shown at the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier, South France.
Born in 1939 in LA, at the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Gibson was inspired by the cinema – both the American movies he grew up with, and the avant-garde films made by later European auteurs such as Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais. Trained in photography while in the American Navy, from 1956-1959, Gibson went on to work for Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank, and moved to New York in 1966.

Image from The Somnambulist, 1970 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Gilles Mora, curator of the Pavillon Populaire exhibition, describes Gibson as one of “the last heroes of photography”, and credits him with having a lasting influence on photographers to this day. A number of Gibson’s images have also become known beyond the photography world, however – particularly Hand Through a Doorway, from The Somnambulist, which was used on the inner sleeve of Joy Division’s 1979 album Unknown Pleasures.
Ralph Gibson: The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 is on show at the Pavillon Populaire de Montpellier, France, from 18 October 2017 until 08 January 2018. Free entry, Tuesday – Sunday.
Image from The Somnambulist, 1970 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Image from Deja-Vu’, 1973 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Image from Deja-Vu’, 1973 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Image from Days at Sea, 1974 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Image from Days at Sea, 1974 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn
Image from Days at Sea, 1974 © Ralph Gibson / Lustrum Press, on show in the exhibition Ralph Gibson; The Black Trilogy, 1970-1974 this Autumn