Lucien Clergue’s Born of the Wave (French: Née de la vague), published in 1968, is a photographic study of the human form in nature, where faceless nudes emerge from and blend into the elements of sand, water, and light. Created during a period of social and artistic transformation, the project aligns with the broader cultural shifts of the 1960s, including changing attitudes toward sexuality and artistic freedom. Clergue’s work is deeply influenced by his upbringing in the Camargue region of France, where the natural environment shaped his visual language. His artistic vision was also informed by classical forms and mythological themes, echoing a timeless search for beauty.
Born of the Wave marks the beginning of Clergue’s extensive exploration of the nude in nature, a theme he would continue to develop throughout his career in varying landscapes such as forests and deserts. The project engages with ideas of evolution and the fluidity of form, utilizing the interplay between the human body and natural elements. Through the abstraction of figures emerging from or blending into the sand and sea—Clergue fosters a dreamlike quality that invites multiple interpretations. Roland Barthes, one of the work’s most notable champions, interpreted the imagery as a progressive emergence from chaos, where sand becomes an allegorical substance representing birth and transformation.
The aesthetic of Born of the Wave is marked by its black-and-white imagery, which enhances the contrast between light and shadow while emphasizing form and texture. Technically, Clergue employed an 80-200mm telephoto lens, carefully adjusting aperture and shutter speed to capture the fluid movement of water around the figures. He often shot under the intense midday sun to eliminate shadows or, conversely, used strong natural light to break up forms, producing surreal compositions. His careful framing ensures that limbs and torsos align harmoniously with the surrounding landscape, reinforcing the organic unity between subject and environment.
First issued as the photobook Née de la vague (1968), the series circulated in galleries soon after and has reappeared regularly in Clergue retrospectives—alongside his Camargue nudes already collected by MoMA (New York), and later shown at the Art Institute of Chicago (1970), Centre Pompidou (1980), and at Rencontres d’Arles, the festival he co-founded (from 1970 onward). Clergue’s broader contribution was formally recognised with France’s Ordre national du Mérite (1980) and Légion d’honneur (2003), election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts (2006), and the Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement (2005).
