You probably still remember the magical pictures which served as advertising for Louis Vuitton in the 1980’s. Henry Racamier, the President, and Jean Francois Bentz, head of RSCG agency asked Jean Larivière to create the LV image through a series called “l’Ame du voyage” (the soul of voyage). For twenty years, his photos transported us to Tibet and Kashmir, Groenland, … Read More
At Jeu de Paume, Florence Lazar films everyday life in conflict zones
Two exhibitions have opened at Jeu de Paume while a new director, Quentin Bajac, is taking office. He recently came back from MoMA in New York, where he ran the photography department after having worked at Musée d’Orsay. The first retrospective of Luigi Ghirri‘s (1943-1992) outside Italy deals with the 1970’s and brings a colorful and modern vision of a former … Read More
Peter Lindbergh converses with Giacometti
German photographer Peter Lindbergh (born 1944) is well known for discovering new models such as Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington in the 1980’s, who would become the greatest in the world for a few decades. He changed the conception we had of them as clothes bearers to super stars. His black and white fashion photographs are unique and working with him … Read More
Jean-Baptiste Huynh finds his roots at Musée Guimet
Jean-Baptiste Huynh became well known in the 1990’s. His mysterious black and white photographs were easy to recognize from afar. Sometimes they were so depressing that the models were disconcerted. Musée Guimet is showing portraits he made while visiting his family in Vietnam in 1994 and returning many times to Asia thereafter. But also photos he took of the collections … Read More
“Hauteville House”, Victor Hugo’s magical retreat in Guernsey
Victor Hugo was the greatest French writer, dramaturge and poet of the 19 th century, he was a talented drawer and apparently a dedicated decorator. At least in the only house that he ever owned, Hauteville House on the British island of Guernsey, where he wrote “Les Misérables”, and many more plays and novels, between 1856 and 1870 when he … Read More
Leonardo da Vinci, five hundred years later in the Loire valley
1519 is the year when Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, at château du Clos Lucé near Amboise. He had been called to the court of France at 65 and had brought paintings, writings, drawings and projects for new inventions. It is the year when Château de Chambord was built and the year Catherine de Medicis was born in … Read More
At Château d’Ecouen, witness the birth of Renaissance theatre
The birth of theater in the French Renaissance can only be tracked down thanks to writings and a few sketches of religious “Mysteries” played outdoors. Many representations in markets and other public places were linked to stages of Christ’s passion. These were set in different cities like Bourges in 1536, Valenciennes in 1547, Troyes, Chateaudun or Romans, which were very … Read More
Felix Nadar and family, a large mix at BNF
The pseudonym Nadar invented by Felix Tournachon in the 1840’s has become a synonym of early photography, of Parisian life and black and white excellence. We always forget that there were three “Nadars” and that Felix, the eldest was the greatest, as we can read in Stéphanie de Saint Marc’s excellent biography of the master. But Bibliothèque Nationale de France … Read More