T

MAURICE TABARD

French

Maurice Tabard’s photographs are visually very
complex, involving negative printing, double expo-
sure, solarization, montage, and other modernist
techniques. Many of his photographs incorporate
shadows cast on or by whole or partial figures who
are situated in indeterminate settings. While Tabard
was not a member of the inner circle of Surrealist
artists in Paris, his works share many of their same
interests in altered realities and uncanny presen-
tations of figures in dreamlike settings. His relent-
lessly experimental work was somewhat ahead of its
time and more appreciated after his death than dur-
ing his lifetime; Tabard cared more about expanding
his understanding of what photography could do
and be rather than establishing a signature style.
Tabard was born in Lyon, France in 1897. His
father was a silk industrialist, and Tabard’s first
artistic experiences were as a designer of patterns
for silk textiles. In 1914, he and his father left
France for New York, where Tabard became a
student at the Institute of Photography. Between
1916 and 1920, he continued his studies with Emile
Brunel in New York. After the death of his father
in 1922, Tabard became a professional portrait
photographer for the Bachrach Studio in Balti-

more. He photographed many important homes

and famous people, including President Calvin

Coolidge and his family.

In 1928, Tabard returned to Paris to become a

fashion photographer. There he encountered the

Surrealist writer Philippe Soupault, who in turn

put him in touch with a number of prominent

magazine editors, including Lucien Vogel, Giron,

and Alexey Brodovitch. Tabard worked for a vari-

ety of magazines, such asBifur,Vu,Jazz,Jardin des

Modes, andMarie-Claire. He made the acquain-

tance of the Surrealists Man Ray and Rene ́

Magritte, and his work began to reflect the influ-

ence of Surrealism, particularly with the use of

uncanny double exposures, which he called ‘‘simul-

taneous impressions.’’ His debt to Magritte is evi-

dent in his later photograph,‘‘Eye-Sea’’: Hommage

a`Magritte(1938). In the late 1920s, he also met

Roger Parry, to whom he taught photography, and

Andre ́Kerte ́sz.

Around 1932, he began systematic experimenta-

tions with the technique of solarization, in which

partial reversals of tones create uncanny dark out-

lines and white halos around forms, creating such

works asComposition with Guitars, of 1929 which

uses the sensual shapes and flat planes of the gui-

tars to great effect. Man Ray and Lee Miller had