Robert Dutruch: Pour l’amour de Paris
December 8, 2018 – February 15, 2019
Opening: Saturday, Dec 8, 6-9pm

For the last nine years, Robert David Dutruch has carried on a love affair with his adopted home of Paris. “That spontaneous decision to go on that very first adventure was made only 3 hours before the flight left New Orleans International… and it was a decision that has enriched my life beyond belief.” Dutruch now makes a yearly sojourn to Paris to not only explore and capture the wonders of the City of Light, but also to reconnect with his family’s roots and French ancestry.

The images in this exhibition, Pour l’amour de Paris, offer a small glimpse of his extensive exploration of the city, its people, its architecture and its enduring soul. He searches out the Paris that is not as immediately obvious or prominent when one thinks of this city, and then applies his unique perspective and techniques in creating artistic images that are both expressive and sensitive.

The twenty-four images featured in the exhibition are printed large scale and framed to 30×44 inches utilizing Hahnemühle Museum Etching fine art paper and are limited to an edition of ten.

BIO
Artist and printmaker Robert David Dutruch in association with Lost Hills Studio, an antiquarian atelier, practices the lost art of wet plate collodion ambrotypes, heliogravures, and platinum/ palladium printing. Utilizing the 19th century processes of some of the earliest pioneers of the photographic and printing arts, Dutruch creates one of a kind ambrotypes and limited edition heliogravures. The jewel of Lost Hills Atelier is a vintage 30”x50” Charles Brand etching press, one of the largest in the southeast, which is used to produce large scale heliogravures from etched plates. Dutruch also utilizes 19th century brass lenses and cameras, including a recently restored 8×10 Kodak Century Studio camera acquired from the High Museum in Atlanta. Dutruch’s workflow, only one step removed from a wizard’s alchemy, allows him the ability to produce work that is of the 21st century, yet deeply rooted in the ways and processes of the 19th century.

Dutruch has exhibited his work in numerous commercial galleries, including 6 solo exhibitions. His work was included in the Historic New Orleans Collection’s important exhibition Seldom Seen Portraits from Private Collections and he been the featured artist of the month by the New Orleans Art Review. His work was recently featured on the cover of View Camera Magazine. His photographs are held in private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Dutruch also conducts educational programs in the antiquarian arts at Lost Hills Atelier located in the rolling countryside north of New Orleans.

Image titles:
Top – Jardin des Tuileries – Robert Dutruch
Lower – Left Bank Paris – Robert Dutruch