Before the cosmic abstractions of the VAT Collection, Patrick Desgraupes built his reputation by carrying a 4×5-inch view camera through some of Europe’s most demanding landscapes.
Between 2003 and 2009 he published five landscape books, three connected with the La Martinière publishing house. These volumes are more than a record of place: they reveal the discipline behind his contemporary work—the scouting, waiting and precise reading of natural light.
Iceland: a seventeen-year pursuit
Patrick’s relationship with Iceland began in the late 1980s. He returned repeatedly, often travelling on foot in difficult conditions and waiting for the exact atmosphere required by the large-format camera. The long project became Islande, le sublime et l’imaginaire, first published in 2005 and later issued in further editions.
The book reached readers in the United States and six European countries. Its photographs bring together volcanic ground, ice, water and northern light without reducing the island to spectacle. They are deliberate, spacious images made through proximity and time.
The five-volume landscape record
Islande, le sublime et l’imaginaire
Patrick Desgraupes with Einar Már Jónsson and Guillaume Cannat · Hermé.
La France: Paysages insolites
Patrick Desgraupes with Yves-Marie Allain · Hermé.
Islande, le sublime et l’imaginaire
Patrick Desgraupes with Guillaume Cannat · Aubanel.
Les Parcs nationaux en France
Photography by Patrick Desgraupes; Aubanel–La Martinière, with a preface by Nicolas Hulot.
Islande, le sublime et l’imaginaire
A La Martinière edition brought this enduring project to a new audience.
Two years across ten national parks
For Les Parcs nationaux en France, Patrick travelled across ten French national parks over two years. The photographs range from glaciers and alpine massifs to tropical forests and active volcanoes. The publication accompanied a major large-format exhibition programme developed with Parcs nationaux de France and the French Ministry of Ecology.
The National Parks book received the Prix des Écrins–René Desmaison jury’s Coup de Cœur and second place at the Prix National du Tourisme in Paris in 2010. The exhibition itself travelled for years through metropolitan France and the French overseas territories.
Why the books matter now
The VAT Collection may look radically different, but its foundations are visible in these books. Patrick still waits for a natural process to reach the right moment. He still treats light as an active material. And he still asks the viewer to encounter a familiar subject as if seeing it for the first time.