Michel Poivert
Michel Poivert (born 1965) is a professor of the history of contemporary art and photography at the Sorbonne. He has taken a special interest in pictorialism, the subject of his doctorate thesis. From 1995 to 2010, he was president of Société française de photographie, the French Photography Society. In 2018, he founded the International College of Photography (CIP). In 2020, he was promoted Officier des Arts & Lettres. Career. Student at the school of the Louvre Museum, Michel Poivert holds a Ph.D. in Art History about pictorialism in France from the La Sorbonne University (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne ) in 1992, directed by José Voyelle. In 2002, he realized a post-doctoral Ph.D. (Habilitation) on the relation between avant-gardes and Photography during the 20th century. Since 2006, he is a professor at La Sorbonne University. From 2009 to 2012, he was the director of the Art History and Geography school at La Sorbonne University. He was also the director of the Art History doctoral school from 2013 to 2018. Between 2010 and 2019, he was co-director of the research M.A. in History of Photography at the school of the Louvre Museum. He has directed and is directing  several Ph.D. in History of Photography. He was a member of the redaction comities for the "Revue de l’art" and "Etudes photographiques". He was also a member of the scientific comities for "A Revista Visualidades é uma publicação semestral do Programa de Pós-graduação em Arte e Cultura Visual da Universidade Federal de Goiás", "Rivista di studi di fotografia, Firenze university pres"s, the revue "Transbordeur Photographie Histoire Société", Université de Genève/Université de Lausanne, and the revue "Photographica", edited by the Société française de photographie and the French Ministry of Culture. Michel Poivert serves several extra-academical roles. He is  a member of the administration comityies of the Jeu de Paume, the Conseil National des Arts Plastiques (2015-2018), the Centre photographique Ile-de-France and the Société française de photographie. He is part of scientific comities such as the Conseil Scientifique de la Médiathèque de l’architecture et du Patrimoine, the French Ministry of Culture, the Jacques-Henri Lartigue Foundation, the Gilles Caron Foundation and the Scientific Board of Lieven Gevaert Center for Photography. Furthermore, he is an administrator for the Neuflize-OBC Corporate Foundation for the arts, and a member of the acquisition comity of Neuflize-OBC. In 1992 , Poivert helped the Société française de photographie (SFP) recover from near bankruptcy and became its president in 1995. In 2004, he organized the exhibition "L'Utopie photographique", clearly testifying to the association's new lease of life on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. He has been editor of SFP's magazine, "Etudes photographiques", and together with Clément Chéroux, he has participated in building a collection of biographies of contemporary photographers, also published by the SFP. In addition to his teaching and research assignments, he has been effective in promoting the younger generation of French photographers. Exhibitions. Michel Poivert has organized  a number of photo exhibitions: