Pierre Molinier
Pierre Molinier (Agen, France 1900 - Bordeaux, France 1976) was a French Surrealist painter and photographer, born in Agen(France) on an emblematic date: 13 April 1900, a good Friday.
Biography
He was the son of a house painter and decorator specializing in marble and wood imitation; his mother a dressmaker, and his aunt an ironer. Molinier's school years were spent with the Brothers of the Agen « Ecoles chrétiennes », although he pretended he had been educated by the Jesuits. At the age of 13, he starts working with his father as an apprentice painter and takes evening courses at the Agen Municipal School of Drawing. Having been in love with his younger sister for a long time, he takes a photograph of her on her deathbed, in 1918, thus starting his quest for androgyny identity, which would be a recurring theme throughout his life and work.
Around that date, he settles down in Bordeaux, Place de la Bourse, in the Saint-Pierre Quarter. The following year, he sets up his own business, as a house painter. He does his military service from 1920 to 1922, then stays in Paris where he visits museums frequently. In 1923, he moves to 5 rue du Parlement-Saint-Pierre, still in the Bordeaux Old Quarter.
The first exhibition of his paintings takes place in 1927. Every year until 1951, he shows several paintings (figurative or fauve landscapes and portraits) in the Bordeaux « Salons ». In 1928, he shows a painting in Paris, at the famous « Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts », and founds the « Société des Artistes Indépendants Bordelais » together with several other painters. During 1931, he moves in the apartment where he will stay for good and will have his artist studio (« L'Atelier du Grenier Saint-Pierre »), 7 rue des Faussets, in the Bordeaux Old Quarter.
In 1940, Molinier was mobilized as a male nurse, then taken prisoner by the Germans ; after being demobilized, he took refuge in the Bordeaux countryside with his family. Four years later, his father commits suicide by overdosing on medicine.
Giving up figuratism, he makes his first abstract painting Satin blanc. After the presumed visit of the Dalai Lama envoys, who asked him to reproduce symbolic mandalas, his inspiration changes into esoterism : this alleged visit was dated by Molinier, vaguely, around 1936 ; considering the evolution of his paintings, 1946 would be much more likely.
In 1948, he makes the first painting characteristic of his erotic period, Les amants à la fleur. The following year, tired of his infidelities and provocative behavior, his wife leaves their marital home.
In 1950, he builds a farcical « Premature tomb » topped with an engraved black cross : « Here lies/Pierre MOLINIER/born on 13 April 1900 died around 1950/he was a man without morals/he was proud of it and gloried in it/No need to pray for him. » He takes photographs of himself, posing in his studio as crucified and having committed suicide, as well as on his deathbed in his apartement.
1951 was the major turning point in Molinier's artistic career. He broke off from the « Artistes Indépendants Bordelais », following a scandal at the Fall Salon caused by his veiled painting Le grand combat, which represents an entanglement of bodies engaged in a love joust. In 1952, he gets in touch with the French novelist and art collector André Malraux in order to exhibit his paintings in Paris and his daughter Françoise, with whom he has been in love for a long time, leaves the family apartment. He wrote to André Breton, the leading figure of the Surrealism movement, in 1955, and sent him a portfolio containing photographs of his paintings. Breton falls in love with « those magical works » and sends him a series of enthusiastic letters praising his work : « You are today a master in vertigo », he writes in one of them.
After exhibiting 18 paintings and a few drawings at the Paris gallery run by Breton « A l'Etoile scellée » (27 January - 17 February 1956), he contributes to several issues of the magazine Le surréalisme, même. He meets the writer and poet Joyce Mansour, « the Divine », and starts taking erotic photographs.
In 1957, he buys a shady bar near Bordeaux called the « Texas-Bar » for his so-called « natural daughter » Monique, who was a notorious prostitute. Three years later, he is involved in a domestic dispute with his wife, slapping her violently and firing a gun above the head of his cousin : for this, he spends a month in prison. He gives up his house painting business, in order to devote the rest of his life to his art. The following year he is condemned with fines and damages for his assaults ; his wife is granted a divorce.
In Summer 1962, Raymond Borde comes to Bordeaux to shoot the film Molinier, an homage to the painter's world (private screenings of an uncut version will be held in 1964 , and a public screening of the censored version in 1966).
He writes to Emmanuelle Arsan (author of the erotic novel Emmanuelle) in May 1964 and meets her in Paris in December. As a result, they engage in passionate correspondence, and Molinier represents her in several of his works. They would not meet again until the Spring of 1967 in Bordeaux.
Numerous meetings with the Surrealist painters Clovis Trouille and Gérard Lattier take place during 1965. He shoots a rudimentary film, Mes jambes.
His plans for publishing an album of photomontages on Le chaman et ses créatures begin to take shape in 1966, and Roland Villeneuve, a specialist of the Devil, was approached to write the preface. Many publishers gave up printing the album, and it would eventually be published in 1995.
In a particulary pivotal exchange with the Austrian art historian Peter Gorsen, in December 1967, he meets Hanel Koeck, a German sado-masochist and fetishist of legs and shoes. During his childhood, he was surrounded by women, and often wore their shoes and stockings, and so this meeting begins a lengthy and impassioned correspondence with her, who payed him several visits. She became the model of many of his paintings and photomontages. Within this same period, a yound friend and model, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, shoots Satan bouche un coin, a film where Molinier appears in his fetishist apparel.
In 1969, he orders the exhumation of his father's corpse and keeps his bones inside a wooden box in the shape of a small coffin, rue des Faussets. The same year, an album (Molinier) on his paintings is published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert.
In 1970, Molinier has a painful gall-bladder removed that had caused him constant suffering. Two years later, Peter Gorsen publishes in Munich an album of photographs and photomontages (Pierre Molinier, lui-même), with an important essay in German.
In March 1975, Molinier takes a series of photographs of the young Swiss painter, Luciano Castelli, in transvestite, and another series with Thierry Agullo, a Bordeaux iconoclastic artist, on the theme of Indecency. At the end of the month, Peter Gorsen pays him a visit (for the first and unique time) accompanied by Hanel Koeck.
The last of his family troubles occurs in September of this year, when his son Jacques dies in an accident while handling explosives ; on this occasion, he resumes his contacts with his daughter Françoise.
At the end of February 1976, he takes a series of photographs of Thierry Agullo, in transvestite, continuing on the theme of Androgyny that played a major part of his life.
On March 3rd, 1976, Molinier commits suicide by shooting himself in the mouth, what he had announced again and again. His body is transferred to the Bordeaux Morgue, then to the Faculty of Medecine, as he bequeathed his body to the establishment in 1970. After being dissected, his remains were buried in a Bordeaux cemetery.
Meaning and influence
Pierre Molinier began his career by painting landscapes in the Impressionist and Fauve styles, with a brief attempt at Abstraction ; he was also known in the Bordeaux art circles as a talented portraitist. After the Second World War, he turned towards esoterism and then fetishistic eroticism, which had been underlying his personal life since adolescence. The feeling that he was fondamentally androgynous will soon be reflected in his erotic paintings (he adored and identified himself with his elder sister, his daughter and a few emblematic women - Emmanuelle Arsan or Hanel Koeck, for instance). Each painting from this period (approximately 70 of them) is the stunning result of a painstaking technical and ideological achievement : the work on the body forms, the transparent superposition of colours ("glacis", especially in the green and reddish tones), the esoteric significance of the subjects always contribute to a unique and rare visual experience.
He developped an interesting correspondence with André Breton, the Pope of Surrealism, and sent him photographs of his paintings. Later, Breton, who wrote enthiusiastic pages about them, integrated him into the Surrealist group and organized a solo exhibition of his works in Paris, in January-February 1956. But the extravagant behaviour of Molinier in sexual matters and his blasphemous tendencies in some of his paintings probably frightened Breton : as a result, Molinier did not participate in the 1965 International Surrealist Exhibition.
Molinier took his first photographs at the age of 18, started his erotic production around 1950 and delivered his major prints between 1960 and 1968, which could be read as an extension of his paintings. In photography, he uses self-made props (dolls, prosthetic limbs, high heels, black-net stockings, masks, dildos) to build a fantasy world. His photographs and photomontages are often portraits of himself as a woman, but they can include body parts of female as well as male partners. By cutting and reassembling body elements, he invents new fantastic creatures and give them movement, although he had a very primitive photographic equipment (bellows camera, wooden frames, no enlarger, home kitchen as a darkroom).
Essentially a leg fetishist, but also considering himself as a shaman, facetious and provocative, anti-bourgeois and anti-religious, Molinier enjoyed transgressing gender identification : his outstanding photographs greatly influenced the European and North American Body Art (Art corporel) in the early 1970s and continue to fascinate artists, critics and collectors today.
Bibliography (selection)
Books
ABEILLE, Jacques. Pierre Molinier, présence de l'exil, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine page éditeurs, 2005, 123 p., 2 ill.
BRETON, André. « Pierre Molinier », in : Le surréalisme et la peinture, Paris : Gallimard, 1966, 427 p.
GORSEN, Peter. Pierre Molinier, lui-même. Essay über den surrealistischen Hermaphroditen, Munich : Rogner und Bernhard, 1972, 39 p., 41 ill.
MACCHERONI, Henri. Un après-midi chez Pierre Molinier, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine Page éditeurs, 2005, 48 p., 18 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Molinier, Paris : Jean-Jacques Pauvert Editeur, 1969, 92 p., 89 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Les orphéons magiques, Collection L'Autre Pente, Bordeaux : Thierry Agullo Editeur, 1979, 60 p., 6 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Cent photographies érotiques, Collection Images obliques, Paris : Editions Borderie, 1979, 112 p., 107 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Pierre Molinier, Genève : Bernard Letu Editeur, 1979, 80 p., 35 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Le chaman et ses créatures, Bordeaux : William Blake & Co., 1995, 96 p. [Preface by Pierre Molinier, presentation text by Roland Villeneuve, photomontages, drawings and reproductions of paintings]
MOLINIER, Pierre. Der Schamane und seine Geschöpfe, Munich : Schirmer/Mosel, 1995, 96 p.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Je suis né homme-putain. Ecrits et dessins inédits réunis et présentés par Jean-Luc Mercié, Paris : Biro Editeur et Edition Kamel Mennour, 2005, 170 p.
PETIT, Pierre. Molinier, une vie d'enfer, Paris : Editions Ramsay/Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1992, 267 p., 86 ill. [Biography with catalogs of works, exhibitions, filmography and bibliography]
PETIT, Pierre. Molinier, une vie d'enfer, Kyoto : Jimbun Shoin, 2000, 300 p., 86 ill. [Translation in Japanese of the French edition ; revised and corrected catalogs of works, exhibitions, filmography and bibliography]
PETIT, Pierre. Pierre Molinier et la tentation de l'Orient, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine Page éditeurs, 2005, 64 p., 24 ill.
Articles
As of today, approximately 500 articles on Molinier have been recorded : a list of the most interesting ones and some excerpts can be found in the "Bibliographie" page of the MOLINIER-INFOS website (see below "External links").
Exhibition catalogs
Pierre Molinier. Die Fetische der Travestie. Fotografische Arbeiten 1965-1975, Herausgegeben von Gerhard Fisher und Peter Gorsen, Vienna : Daedalus, 1989, 122 p., 40 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Faber, Wien]
Pierre Molinier, Winnipeg : Plug-in Editions & Santa Monica : Smart Art Press, 1993, 120 p., 60 ill. [Book for a touring exhibition, Canada]
Pierre Molinier, Genève : Bärtschi-Salomon Editions, 1999, 80 p., 99 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Genève]
Pierre Molinier, Valencia : IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, 1999, 267 p., 118 ill.[Exhibition catalog, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencià]
Pierre Molinier photographe. Une rétrospective, Paris : Edition Mennour, 2000, 173 p., 160 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris]
Pierre Molinier. Jeux de miroirs, Bordeaux : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux/Le Festin, 2005, 176 p., 46 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux]
Audio-visual
« Trois entretiens inédits avec Pierre Molinier, réalisés en 1971 par Jean Bernard », Licences, Revue-Disque semestrielle, Paris, No. 1, 2000, encart, 20 p., 19 ill. [Text and CD audio]
Molinier. Entretien avec Pierre Chaveau 1972 (Texte + Enregistrement sur CD audio), Bordeaux : Editions Opales/Pleine Page, 2003, 64 p., ill. [Text and CD audio]
Hommage à Pierre Molinier, Rouen : Sordide Sentimental, avril 2007 [Articles in French and English, plus a DVD containing the film Satan bouche un coin by Jean-Pierre Bouyxou and Raphaël-Georges Marongiu, 1967-1968, where Molinier appears]
Works
As of today, 393 paintings, 169 drawings, 28 prints, 590 photographs, 184 photomontages, 124 colour slides, 13 masks, 22 sculptures made by Molinier have been recorded.
Paintings (selection)
1918
Portrait de Madame Molinier, mère. Oil
1925
Etude de ciel d'orage. Oil : 18,5 x 24
1926
Etang à Ermenonville. Oil : 25 x 33
1927
La vallée de Bassens. Oil : 54,5 x 73
1928
Château de Madaillan. Oil : 91 x 123
La dame blonde. Oil : 27 x 35
L'homme en bleu. Oil : 73 x 60
Monastère de Sercolou en Gascogne. Oil
1929
La rue Lepic. Oil : 165 x 200
1930
L'homme au gibus. Oil : 72 x 59
La prière. Oil : 74 x 86
Les quais. Oil
La rue. Oil : 33 x 39
1931
Tapoustka. Oil : 61 x 51
1932
La vallée de Casalet. Oil : 74 x 100,5
1933
L'enfant au berceau. Oil : 38 x 48
1934
L'enfant à la chaise. Oil : 69 x 53
1935
Portrait d'enfant. Oil : 41 x 47
1936
L'homme au béret. Oil : 73 x 55
1938
L'homme au shako. Oil : 63 x 52
1940
Satin blanc. Oil : 81 x 65
1946
Amours. Oil : 41,5 x 46,5
Non conformisme. Oil
1947
Femme à la mantille. Oil : 88 x 74
1948
Les amants à la fleur. Oil : 131 x 98
L'homme au béret. Autoportrait. Oil : 73 x 60.
1949
Les amants dans la campagne. Oil : 94 x 128
Le combat des Cro-Magnon. Oil : 94 x 103
La rue. Oil : 66 x 82
1950
Les amoureuses confondues. Oil : 47 x 56
Le duel. Oil : 72 x 100
Gracieuse. Oil : 73 x 58
Holocauste. Oil : 41 x 33
Nu aux fleurs. Oil : 97 x 130
Portrait de Françoise. Oil : 90 x 67
1951
Le grand combat. Oil : 136 x 203
Je gueule gaiement ce que j'ai à dire. Oil : 80 x 100
1952
Cosmac III. Oil : 64 x 51
La dispute des trois Grâces. Oil : 61 x 51
Le messager. Oil : 51 x 73
Le peloton d'exécution. Oil
Le retour des vendanges. Oil : 81 x 100
Succube. Oil : 94 x 85
1953
Amour. Ah ! Les vaches. Oil : 41 x 33
Le château magique. Oil : 40 x 32,3
1954
Comtesse Midralgar. Oil : 86 x 70
Les dames voilées. Oil : 81 x 100
Sortilège. Oil : 35 x 25
1955
La fleur du paradis. Oil : 89 x 116
Ennazus. Oil : 60 x 51
Noitmosa. Oil : 27 x 22.
Le puits délectable. Oil : 35 x 24
Les seins étoilés No. 1. Oil : 41 x 33
Les seins étoilés No. 2. Oil : 27 x 22
1957
Le Christ puni. Oil : 73 x 59,5
1958
La boîte à fleurs. Oil : 46 x 61
1959
Le temps de la mort No.1. Oil : 81 x 100
1960
Les curieuses. Oil : 73 x 60
Madame d'O. Oil : 35 x 27
Le pas de quatre. Oil : 50 x 61
Le réveil de l'ange. Oil : 100 x 81
Susinella. Oil : 61 x 46
Le temps des assassins. Oil : 51 x 61
1961
Les dames au pistolet. Oil : 81 x 100
1962
Les amoureuses angoissées. Oil : 100 x 81
L'angoisse révoltée. OIl : 64 x 52,5
Cavalier de la Garde du Roy - 2. Oil : 24 x 33
Ce qui est solennel. Oil : 100 x 81
Corbillard No.3. Oil : 38 x 46
Corbillard No.6. Oil : 51 x 74
Culminate. Oil : 81 x 100
La flèche amoureuse. Oil : 55 x 75
Holocauste oui, holocauste non. Oil : 54 x 65
Les jumelles amoureuses dans l'oeuf oblong. Oil : 60 x 73
Les jumelles sont toujours amoureuses. Oil : 81 x 65
Petit bec - L'oeuf d'amour. Oil : 73 x 60
Sacrilège. Oil : 55 x 46
Le temps de la mort No.2. Oil : 92 x 73
1964
Le miroir. Oil : 54 x 73
1965
Les femmes actuelles sont.... Oil : 65 x 54
Oh!... Marie, mère de Dieu. Huile: 100 x 80
Les yeux du temps perdu. Oil : 50 x 61
1966
Les amoureuses. Oil : 54 x 65
Amours. Huile
Le grand combat No.2. Oil : 64 x 80
1968
Skin-D'Amourdo. Oil : 81 x 100
1969
Exémaly. Oil : 73 x 54
Pour Hanel. Oil : 52,5 x 63
1971
Le Baphomet. Oil : 60 x 55
Bonheur fou. Oil : 73 x 60
La communion d'amour. Oil : 54 x 45.
1973
L'empalée. Oil : 63 x 52,5
Jeune fille voilée. Oil : 40 x 32
1974
Les amoureuses No.2. Oil : 65 x 81
1976
Angélica. Oil : 80 x 60 [1947 ; Important modifications in 1975-1976]
Photographs (selection)
Le chaman et ses créatures
This album made by Molinier himself contains 74 photographs which are good illustrations of his 1965-1968 production : it was published only in 1995.
Plate No. 01 : Le chaman (Photomontage)
Plate No. 02 : Introit (Photomontage)
Plate No. 03 : Effigie 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 04 : Poupée 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 05 : Baphomet (Photomontage)
Plate No. 06 : Poupée 2 (Colour slide)
Plate No. 07 : Rêve (Photomontage)
Plate No. 08 : Vision (Photomontage)
Plate No. 09 : Offertoire (Photomontage)
Plate No. 10 : Les Hanels 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 11 : Vision orientale (Photomontage)
Plate No. 12 : Les Mimies (Photomontage)
Plate No. 13 : Les pieds amoureux (Photomontage)
Plate No. 14 : Les bottes (Photomontage)
Plate No. 15 : L'éperon d'amour (Photomontage)
Plate No. 16 : L'odalisque turbulente (Photomontage)
Plate No. 17 : Androgynie (Photomontage)
Plate No. 18 : Gog et Magog (Photomontage)
Plate No. 19 : Pantomime céleste (Photomontage)
Plate No. 20 : Autel de la patrie (Photomontage)
Plate No. 21 : Je suis content (Photomontage)
Plate No. 22 : Curieuse (Photomontage)
Plate No. 23 : La rose noire (Photomontage)
Plate No. 24 : Elévation (Photomontage)
Plate No. 25 : Je rampe vers Gehamman (Photomontage)
Plate No. 26 : Sur le pavois (Photomontage)
Plate No. 27 : Le double (Photomontage)
Plate No. 28 : Les jeux (Photomontage)
Plate No. 29 : Toi, moi (Photomontage)
Plate No. 30 : Hanel 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 31 : Le radar amoureux (Photomontage)
Plate No. 32 : Féminin pluriel et triste (Photomontage)
Plate No. 33 : Les Hanels 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 34 : Les Hanels 2 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 35 : Ossipago se cache (Photomontage)
Plate No. 36 : Lenah (Photomontage)
Plate No. 37 : Le stylite (Photomontage)
Plate No. 38 : L'enfant-heaume (Photomontage)
Plate No. 39 : Le podex d'amour (Photomontage)
Plate No. 40 : Le festin de Manès (Photomontage)
Plate No. 41 : Méditation vampirique (Photomontage)
Plate No. 42 : Fleur d'enfer (Photomontage)
Plate No. 43 : L'étoile de six (Photomontage)
Plate No. 44 : La victoire (Photomontage)
Plate No. 45 : Cinamone (Photomontage)
Plate No. 46 : On débauche (Photomontage)
Plate No. 47 : Silphium (Photomontage)
Plate No. 48 : Les mandrake se régalent (Photomontage)
Plate No. 49 : Emmanuelle 1 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 50 : A vos outils (Photomontage)
Plate No. 51 : Hanel 2 (Photomontage)
Plate No. 52 : Botanique (Photomontage)
Plate No. 53 : Cravache (Photomontage)
Plate No. 54 : La grande mêlée (Photomontage)
Plate No. 55 : Dessin pour "Le messager" (Photograph)
Plate No. 56 : Le messager (1950) (Photomontage)
Plate No. 57 : Dessin pour "Les yeux du temps perdu" (Photograph)
Plate No. 58 : Les yeux du temps perdu (Colour slide)
Plate No. 59 : Dessin pour "Les jumelles sont toujours amoureuses" (Photograph)
Plate No. 60 : Les jumelles sont toujours amoureuses (Colour slide)
Plate No. 61 : Dessin pour "Pour Hanel" (Photograph)
Plate No. 62 : Pour Hanel (1968-1969) (Colour slide)
Plate No. 63 : Dessin pour "Exémaly" (Photograph)
Plate No. 64 : Exémaly (Colour slide)
Plate No. 65 : Emmanuelle 2 (Photograph)
Plate No. 66 : L'oeuvre, le peintre et son fétiche (Photograph)
Plate No. 67 : Dessin pour "La communion d'amour" (Photograph)
Plate No. 68 : La communion d'amour (Colour slide)
Plate No. 69 : Dessin pour "Bonheur fou" (Photograph)
Plate No. 70 : Bonheur fou (Colour slide)
Plate No. 71 : Dessin pour "Amours" (Photograph)
Plate No. 72 : Amours (Colour slide)
Plate No. 73 : Dessin pour "Le Baphomet" (Photograph)
Plate No. 74 : Le Baphomet (Colour slide)
Personal exhibitions (selection)
As of today, 224 Molinier exhibitions have been recorded : 58 personal and 166 collective. Below are listed the main personal exhibitions (except for the major Bordeaux collective one in 2005).
1931
Exposition Pierre Molinier, Galerie A. Grézy, Bordeaux, France, 12-18 January 1931
1948
Exposition Pierre Molinier, Galerie d'Art Georges-Faure, Bordeaux, France, March 1948
1956
« Molinier », Galerie A l'Etoile Scellée, Paris, France, 27 January -17 February 1956
1977
« Hommage à Pierre Molinier », Fondation Soulac Médoc, Soulac, France, 14 July - August 1977
1979
« Molinier. Peintures, photos et photomontages », Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 19 September - 05 November 1979
« Molinier. Peintures, photos et photomontages », Exposition co-produite entre le Centre Georges-Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne et la Fondation Aquitaine, A la Renaissance du Vieux Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, 16 November - 14 December 1979
« Pierre Molinier. Peintures, dessins, gravures & photomontages », Galerie du temps cassé, Bordeaux, France, 20 November - 15 December 1979
1980
« Molinier 1900-1976. Mälningar, fotografier och fotomontage », Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden, 19 January - 09 March 1980
1982
« Thérèse Agullo par Pierre Molinier », Galerie J. & J. Donguy, Paris, France, 09 November - 04 December 1982
1986
« Pierre Molinier », Art Space Mirage, Tokyo, Japon, 01-30 April 1986 and 12-25 May 1986
« Molinier, le même et l'autre. Exposition rétrospective de peintures, dessins, sculptures », Château de Mongenan, Portets, France, 29 August - 01 November 1986
« Pierre Molinier : photographies / Luciano Castelli: dessins, hommage à Molinier », Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes, France
1988
« Succession Pierre Molinier », Galerie Urbi et Orbi, Espace J. et J. Donguy, Paris, France, November 1988
1989
« Pierre Molinier - Die Fetische der Travestie. Fotografische Arbeiten 1965-1975 », Galerie Faber, Vienna, Austria, 25 January - 10 March 1989
1990
Brent Sikkema Fine Arts, New York, U.S.A.
1991
Galerie Hummel, Vienna, Austria
1992
« Pierre Molinier. Le regard obscène », Galerie Bouqueret-Lebon, Paris, France, 29 April - 16 May 1992
1993
« Pierre Molinier », Floating Gallery Centre for Photography, Winnipeg, Canada, 22 January - 13 February 1993 [Touring exhibition]
« Pierre Molinier », Fine Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 22 April - 28 May 1993 [Touring exhibition]
« Pierre Molinier », Centre International d'Art Contemporain, Montréal, Canada, 01 August - 01 November 1993 [Touring exhibition]
« Pierre Molinier. Collection d'un amateur », Galerie Bouqueret-Lebon, Paris, France, 10 September - 20 October 1993
« Pierre Molinier », Cabinet Gallery, London, Great Britain
1994
« Pierre Molinier », Toronto Photographers Workshop, Toronto, Canada, 02 April - 07 May 1994 [Touring exhibition]
« Der Schamane und seine Kreaturen. Pierre Molinier-Fotografien und Montagen », Galerie der Neuen Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin, Germany, 21 May - 03 July 1994
« Pierre Molinier », Australian Center for Photography, Sydney, Australia
1996
« Pierre Molinier », Wooster Gardens / Brent Sikkema and Ubu Gallery, New York, U.S.A., 07 September - 05 October 1996
1998
« Pierre Molinier (Scènes de la séduction) », Palais de l'Archevêché, Arles, France, August 1998
« Pierre Molinier », Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, U.S.A., 25 July - 20 September 1998
1999
« Pierre Molinier », Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), Centre Julio González, Valencia, Spain, 15 April - 21 June 1999
« Pierre Molinier », Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Geneva, Switzerland, 25 November 1999 - 29 January 2000
2000
« Pierre Molinier. Original gelatin silver prints from 1950s to 70s », Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, U.S.A, 13 April - 09 May 2000
« Pierre Molinier, photographe. Une rétrospective », Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France, 13 April - 13 June 2000
2001
« Pierre Molinier: 1946-1966, 2 décennies "magiques" », Lattuada Pardo Gallery, Milan, Italy, 23 May - 18 September 2001 ; A l'enseigne des Oudin, Paris, France, 03 July - 29 September 2001
2003
« Pierre Molinier (1900-1976). Fetish performance. Photographs and photomontages (1965-1971)», Galerie Berinson, Berlin, Germany, 13 April - 11 June 2003
2004
« Pierre Molinier (1900-1976). Ecce Homo (Original collages and photomontages) », Patricia Laligant Gallery, New York, U.S.A., 21 May - 26 June 2004
2005
« Je suis né homme-putain », Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France, 02 September - 02 October 2005
« Pierre Molinier / Jeux de miroirs », Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France, 23 September - 20 November 2005 [Major collective exhibition]