NUTAN

Born in Belgium, 1948 Nutan Jacques Piraprez was the son of two teachers, and in his early teens he was close to a local artist, writer and Art Publisher Andre Blavier. Through him he associated with most of the Belgian and French Dadaist and Surrealists Painters and Writers, including René Magritte, Raymond Queneau, Paul Scuttenaire, Jean Queval. These greatly influenced him at an early age, and he went on to study first painting at the Academy des Beaux Arts de Verviers, Belgium (1966), then photography for his BA at Institut St- Luc in Liége, Belgium, later developing his art in numerous workshops on light, colour and photography.

His photographic accomplishments led to his travelling widely. On one such assignment to Ireland in 1969, he landed on a Dutch fishing boat at Killybegs. He fell in love with the light and the pace of life of the country, and returned to live here in the early 1970s, living in many different counties. He was naturalised as an Irish citizen in 1978, and settled in Kinvarra in 1992.

He has shared his skills a Waterford Art School and at G.M.I.T, and has hosted many photographic workshops. Through his photographic assignments he has been all over the world, including five years covering Irish cyclists Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche on all of their continental races for French and American press agencies.

He has published and has contributed to many books, and has worked with the world’s leading photo-orientated magazines, including Paris Match, Geo, Time and Stern.

His work has been published in many newspapers and journals, including The Sunday Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, Stern, Airone, National Geographic, Geo, Zeite Magazine, The Figaro Magazine, The London Independent Magazine, The Observer Magazine, The New York Times, Armen, Le Chasse Marée, Country Living, and numerous others. A member of RAPHO, the exclusive Parisian Photographic agency, his most recent book (2016) was a collection of black and white images of Ireland at the end of the 1960s.

Nutan has a long-established association with Irish traditional music, beginning in 1969 when he photographed sean-nós singer Seosamh Ó hÉanaí and song collector Tom Munnelly and other musicians. He has provided images for dozens of album covers over subsequent decades, including for leading artistes such as Sharon Shannon, John Prine, Martin Hayes, Altan, Frankie Gavin and Mary Bergin. His energy and zeal in this music field also inspired two traditional music books—The Blooming Meadows in 1998, and Ben Lennon: The Tailor’s Twist in 2011.

He now divides his time between digitalising and archiving his life’s work in photography, and his major passion, painting, with which he has been engaged throughout his life, and to which he has been dedicated over the last decade.