Born in France in 1956, Patrick Desgraupes is a French fine-art photographer whose career moves from exacting large-format landscape photography to the radical abstraction of his celebrated wine-vat images.
He trained through practical experience in Parisian studios and photographic laboratories, developing the deep understanding of light that would become a defining quality of his work. Working with an analogue 4×5-inch view camera, he established a reputation as a landscape specialist.
Landscape at monumental scale
Between 2003 and 2009 Desgraupes published five landscape books, including three with Éditions de La Martinière. His photographs circulated in the United States and across seven European countries. Early solo exhibitions devoted to Iceland took place in 1989, 1990 and 1992.
From 2008 to 2015 he created sixteen large-format exhibitions in collaboration with France’s National Parks and the French Ministry of Ecology. His book on the national parks received two distinctions, including second place at France’s National Tourism Awards in 2010.
A contemporary turn
From 2017, Desgraupes moved decisively towards a more contemporary photographic language. Between 2017 and 2023 his work received forty international medals and numerous nominations across major photography competitions in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, São Paulo and Luxembourg.
Honours include the Fujifilm Award for Innovation in London, Fine Art Photographer of the Year, Black & White Photographer of the Year, two Wine Photographer of the Year titles and an Artistic Merit Certificate from the Luxembourg Pinacothèque.
The hidden universe of wine
The VAT Collection brings his technical discipline and fascination with natural transformation together. Created inside prestigious French wine estates within days of the harvest, the images look into active vats and reveal colour, movement and matter invisible to the casual eye. What begins as documentation becomes an image of genesis: part biological event, part planet, iris and star.
Patrick Desgraupes is represented by Studio 54 Fine Art. Available editions, prices, certificates and international delivery can be discussed privately with the gallery.