Lucien Clergue is not only an art photographer, but also a prominent advocate for the art of photography. In this respect, he was the co-founder of one of the most important international photography festivals,  "Arles Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie", which he started in 1969 and has been actively supporting for the past forty years. Lucien Clergue is famous for his poetic and surreal photographs, like his series Nudes and his double exposures, as well his photos of the painter Pablo Picasso. When Clergue met Picasso in 1953, the two artists became closely connected in a friendship that lasted 20 years, until the death of Picasso in 1973.  For two decades, Lucien Clergue documented this friendship through a series of intimate and affectionate photographs he took respresenting Picasso both as a private individual and a famed artist.  
 
For the first time in China, ArtMia Foundation will show these extraordinary photos of Pablo Picasso taken by Lucien Clergue. The exhibition will feature more than 50 photographs, accompanied by ceramics and prints by Picasso.
 
Born in 1934 in Arles, Lucien Clergue currently lives and works in France. His main themes include: life, death, the four elements, female nudes – especially combined with waves –  decaying carcasses of dead bulls, the mysteries of the Camargue, sand, water, street performers, gypsies, famous toreadors, Picasso, Cocteau and Dalì. In the 1960s he also turned to film, won the Louis Lumière prize for Drame du Taureau (Tragedy of the Bull) and was nominated for the 1968 Cannes festival and Academy Awards. In recent years, he has experimented with colour images of bullfights and female nudes overlaid with museum paintings. ArtMia Foundation will simultaneously present an exhibition of original works by Picasso with support from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology at Peking University.
 
Exhibition presented by ArtMia Foundation in collaboration with Caochangdi PhotoSpring.
 
A documentary film, "Picasso, War, Love and Peace "(1971) by Lucien Clergue, will also be screened. A talk with Lucien Clergue will then follow.
 
Lucien Clergue is the co-founder of "Les Rencontres dʼArles" and has been actively involved with its organization for over forty years. Lucien Clergue, California, Cannes, 1955

Scope of exhibited works
- 43  works of  Picasso series
- 8 prints works of Picasso

Activities
- Exhibition Opening
- Art salon with members of the  ArtMia Foundation membership program
- Picasso Film show by Lucien

Lucien Clergue - Biography and selected exhibitions

1934   
Born in Arles, France
1949   
Takes a serious interest in photography
1953   
First meeting with Picasso in Arles
1956   
First meeting with Jean Cocteau in Paris
1957   
Publication of his first book of photographs: Corps mémorable with an introductory poem by Jean Cocteau, cover design by Picasso
1958   
First exhibition at Kunstgewerbemuseum in Zurich, Switzerland
1959   
Guest photographer on Jean Cocteau’s film Le Testament d‘Orphée
1960   
Exhibition in the foyer of Théatre de France, Paris
1961   
Participates in Edward Steichen’s group exhibition Diogenes at Museum of Modern Art in New York
1965   
First film Le drame du taureau initiates a photographic department at Musée Réattu, Arles
1966   
Film Picasso, War, Love and Peace
1969   
Art Director at Arles Festival Co-Founder of Rencontres Internationales de la Photograpie in Arles
1973   
Death of Picasso
1979   
Doctorate in photography at the Université de Provence, Marseille
1980   
Presented with the decoration “Chevalier de l‘Ordre du Mérite”
1985   
First retrospective exhibition in Rochester, New York
2002   
Exhibition of photographic portraits of Picasso in Picasso’s former studio in Paris
2003   
Presented with the decoration “Chevalier de la Légion d‘Honneur”
2004   
35th anniversary of Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles
With an exhibition homage for his 70th birthday
2006   
Retrospective Lucien Clergue - Fifty Years of Photography at Louis Stern Fine Arts in West Hollywood, CA; Featured lecturer at PHOTOLA, Los Angeles, Member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France
2007   
Retrospective exhibition Lucien Clergue, 53 Years in Photography in Arles
2008   
Retrospective exhibition Lucien Clergue - Magie und Mythos at KunstHausWien, Vienna, Austria, and Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso in Münster, German
2009   
Exhibition Lucien Clergue - The Intimate Picasso at Louis Stern Fine Arts in West Hollywood, CA