Bio of Benoit Malphettes
By his early 20's, Benoit Malphettes, the French-born American photographer (b.1946) had already seen his fashion images appear in French Vogue. As his career brought him to New York and Los Angeles, he decided in 1977 to make the U.S. his permanent home. Benoit's strong signature style and his mastery of the large format camera quickly gained international recognition, with his work published in American Vogue, Bazaar, W, Essence and others.
In 2006, after decades of a demanding schedule, Benoit felt the need to leave the hectic life of Los Angeles and NY and move to a more contemplative environment, which he found near the California desert. At a time of life where some of us seek to spend their years in leisure, Benoit saw it as an opportunity of transformation to enter into a period of personal and introspective creativity.
His still lifes and landscapes are composed from a provocative and intimate point of view, depicting an unusual awareness that would characterize his unique new take on reality.
His latest collection Open to Interpretation illustrates this concept and, in fact, invites viewers to follow the title 's direction literally: supply their own explanations of the pieces.
Benoit's photography is represented in the permanent collections of public institutions, several museums and in numerous private collections. Since 2015, his work has been exhibited in two one-man shows in California museums and a group show at the California Museum of Photography. In 2018, his work was included in NY's MoMa exhibit "Is Fashion Modern" and in 2019, Benoit received the California Journalism Award for his portrait of Dr Sterling Stuckey.
Bio of Benoit Malphettes