Jean Dieuzaide (1921-2003) Les mystères du brai, 1956. Vintage silver print, mounted on cardboard and titled in ink on the mount, lower left. Stamp "Reportage photographique Yan", title, date, competition (Coupe de France) and photo-club labels on reverse. 39.4 x 30.5 cm Bibliography: Jean Dieuzaide, Mon aventure avec le brai, Toulouse, Papeteries Job [self-published], 1974, cover. Between 1956 and 1958, Jean Dieuzaide pursued a project devoted to coal pitch, a by-product of coking used to make refractory bricks and waterproof coatings. At the Carmaux coking plant, he discovered this black, viscous material which, once dry, cracks into geometric networks. This marked the beginning of a long-term study of the changing physiognomy of pitch, an echo of the photographer's inner movements. This "dialogue with another self", which he describes as an "adventure", illustrates the intimate, reflexive dimension of the photographic act.