JACQUES OLIVAR, Sarah Daykin, Austin, Texas

JACQUES OLIVAR, Sarah Daykin, Austin, Texas, 1999
Edition of x 10
Signed and numbered
Print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper

90 x 120 cm (35.4 x 47.2 in)

Ships within 2 weeks. Frame not included.

Kalkeriet Contemporary is pleased to present photographer Jacques Olivar. Born in Casablanca, Olivar emerged in the 1980s as a distinctive voice in European photography, developing an early career marked by critical recognition and a clear sensibility toward narrative construction and cinematic atmosphere. His transition into fashion and fine art photography quickly brought him into collaboration with leading international publications, including British Vogue, Uomo Vogue, Vogue Homme International, and Marie-Claire, as well as fashion houses such as Giorgio Armani, Hermès, Comme des Garçons, and Givenchy.

Working exclusively with analogue film, Olivar developed a visual language shaped by mid-twentieth-century cinema and the saturated palette of Technicolor processes. His photographs often unfold in transitional landscapes—deserts, small towns, roadside architecture—where atmosphere, gesture, and light create a quietly unfolding narrative. Early exposure to American cinema in Casablanca, particularly films by John Ford, John Huston, and Elia Kazan, continues to inform the sense of scale, solitude, and psychological depth visible throughout his work.

Across his practice, Olivar explores themes of independence, interiority, and movement. His protagonists appear suspended in moments of anticipation or departure, creating images that function as stills from an unwritten film. Cultural historian Walter Keller has described his photographs as “visual novels,” noting their ability to merge the languages of fashion and fine art while leaving space for viewers to construct their own narratives.

Olivar’s work has been presented in major institutional contexts, including exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2001) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2008). These museum exhibitions highlight the broader cultural relevance of his practice and affirm his position among image-makers whose work extends beyond editorial production into contemporary art. Olivar continues to focus on fine art photography, overseeing the production, printing, and exhibition of his works for galleries and collectors internationally. He has long worked between Europe and the United States and is now based in Barcelona.