Benoit Malphettes

Benoit Malphettes, the French-born American photographer, had his fashion images appear in French Vogue by his early 20's. As his career brought him to New York and Los Angeles, he decided in 1977 to make the U.S. his permanent home. Benoit's strong signature style and his mastery of the large format camera quickly gained international recognition, with his work published in French and American Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Essence and others.

His fashion and editorial work reflected the era of the 80’s Supermodel icons like Iman, Jerry Hall, Rene Russo, Cindy Crawford, who graced his work. His portraits were also sought after by the political and business elite of the West Coast such as Eli Broad, Governor Deukmejian, Assemblymember Jose Medina, and Mayor Riordan among others.

Reaching his sixties, at a time of life when most of us aspire to spend their years in leisure, Benoit saw it as an opportunity of transformation to enter a period of increased conceptual creativity. He decided to leave the commercial part of his photography and moved to a more contemplative environment near the California desert. There, he built a personal studio in his new home and now uses a technical view camera, the digital-age version of the large ...

Solo Exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum 2016
Solo Exhibit at the Redlands County Museum 2017
Group Exhibit at the California Museum of Photography 2020
Solo exhibit coming at the Redlands County Museum August 2022