It is quite amazing to think that there were already photo reporters in 1855, fifteen years after the invention of photography in 1839, and this is what the precious Roger Fenton exhibition at Château de Chantilly is teaching us. Fenton (1819-1869) was born in Lancashire and started out as a painter in Paris in Paul Delaroche‘s atelier. He soon became … Read More
Maria Lannino brings our dear Palermo to Paris.
This week Paris Photo took over the Grand Palais Ephémère with 148 galleries from 25 countries, and it was fun to hear again all sorts of languages being spoken with a large group of German galleries from Berlin, new ones from South Africa and Morocco, and the usual New Yorkers. But for us, long time fanatics of the fair, there … Read More
Annie Leibovitz is disconcerting at Académie des Beaux Arts
She is such a legend in the world of photography that I was surprised to actually see and even talk to Annie Leibovitz at the presentation of her exhibition at Pavillon Comtesse de Caen. The 72 year old photographer, an admirer of Henri Cartier- Bresson an Robert Frank, who started working for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970 while she was … Read More
Paris bridges glow at night, thanks to Gary Zuercher
Gary Zuercher moved to Paris for the only good reason there is: he fell in love with a French woman, Dominique, whom he met on a flight from Cancun to Mexico City. The book on the thirty five Parisian bridges on the Seine, “The Glow of Paris”, which he photographed at night over a period of five years, is the … Read More
News of the week
The happiest news of the week is the nomination of Christophe Leribault, 57, as President of Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, two museums with the largest Impressionist collection in the world, which are often number one on the to-see-list of foreign visitors. He has done marvels at Musée du Petit Palais for 9 years and will inaugurate a Jean-Michel Othoniel … Read More
Don’t miss, in September…
September is traditionally in France the busy month of La Rentrée. Schools have resumed last Thursday and all the families are back in town. This week, ArtParis is opening on Thursday 9, at the “Grand Palais Ephémère” built by Jean Michel Wilmotte in the Champ de Mars, while Grand Palais is under works. 140 galleries from 20 countries will be … Read More
Saving Brazil with Sebastiao Salgado
There are two things I did not like in Sebastião Salgado’s exhibition “Amazônia” at the Philharmonie: the staging of the pictures, which are huge and stand like trees in a forest with too much light on them. This is what was meant by the photographer and his wife who designed the show, but it is not half as gracious as … Read More
Henri Cartier Bresson, again… at Musée Carnavalet this time
It is a coïncidence that two large exhibitions of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson are taking place at the same time. I already mentioned the clever one at BNF where four curators have chosen a selection in the same body of 354 works. This one at Musée Carnavalet, the Historical museum of the city of Paris, is organized with Fondation Henri Cartier … Read More