I vividly remember the first day I heard Jean Pierre Sudre, with his lovely french accent, say “In mordançage you have the possibility....”   Truly, in mordançage and photography the possibilities for him were endless. His knowledge of photography and chemical processes, along with his wife Claudine, a well known printer of 19th century images, was astounding. Upon moving from Paris to Provence, he decided to explore the idea that photographs evolved from matter, matiere. He made negatives by crystallizing chromium salts onto glass plates cliché verre from which he “found” his landscapes to project under the enlarger. Some were also combined with photograms of les paysages which surrounded his studio.

The images created from these beautiful “landscapes of his mind” were special enough, but to them he added the process which he invented and named “Mordançage.” When put through the mordançage solution, the silver gelatin in the densest areas of the print could be removed with the pressure of a jet of water or cotton ball. Nearly three dimensional in shape, these photographs are exquisite to behold.

An association has been formed by Madame Sudre and “Les amis de Jean-Pierre Sudre” to promote this work so that others may know the joy of experiencing his images in a book and exhibitions. Jean Pierre died in 1997, but his legacy as a teacher, poet, visionary, artist and philosopher shall remain in the hearts of those that knew him and in his many beautiful works of art. I will be forever grateful to Jean-Pierre for his many gifts and allowing me to be a student of this process.

Elizabeth Opalenik

Elizabeth and Jean Pierre,
LaCoste July 1983