It was great fun as usual at Fondation Cartier for the opening of « Auto Photo, from 1900 to today » a show of 450 pictures by American, British, German, Swiss, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, African and French photographers who, one way or another, were attracted by cars. Small and large formats, color and black and white, esthetical or social themes make for … Read More
John Stewart, a very special friend!
I met John Stewart twenty five years ago at a summer luncheon in Saignon, in Lubéron. After five minutes, he started talking about his latest trip to Ladakh where he had met a common friend, Hugues de Montalembert. This coincidence was unusual enough to make us instant and long lasting friends ! Such was John’s curiosity and interest for others! … Read More
Eli Lotar at Jeu de Paume
If you only had a half hour to visit the Jeu de Paume’s new exhibitions, I would recommend that you sit in front of Eli Lotar’s film “Aubervilliers” a shocking and yet poetic vision of Paris’ suburbs in 1945. The commentary written by Jacques Prévert is beautiful and the images are from another world. It is a reflection on happiness … Read More
Claire de Virieu invites us to Japan
Photographer Claire de Virieu has accustomed us to beautiful garden photographs covered with snow or shot at the height of summer like those in the book “Majorelle” published with Pierre Bergé. After travelling to Japan in 2011, she has brought back a series of photos of the sacred city of Nara, which are unlike anything she has done before. They … Read More
Mountain photographs in Lausanne
Where else but in Lausanne could an exhibition of mountain photographs could take place and be beautiful ? The Musée de l’Elysée, run with a firm and creative hand by Tatyana Franck, shows 300 prints selected from its collection of 4 000, on a very Swiss theme, mountains.
Bardejov’s past revisited
What Yuri Dojc, the photographer, and Katya Krausova, the cinematographer, have in common, is to have both left Czechoslovakia in 1968 when Russian tanks invaded Prague. They met when revisiting their Jewish past in Slovakia and, between 2006 and 2013, they followed, each with a camera, the few surviving Jews who had come back from Auschwitz. This « Last Folio », … Read More
Turmoil in London’s museums
The Victoria and Albert museum is a permanent showcase of exhuberance and diversity and I was once again happily surprised by the three shows I saw last week end in London. Not only has the 19 th century decorative arts museum hired a new director, the 42 year old historian Tristram Hunt, who, angry at Brexit, left his labour … Read More
Henri Cartier Bresson strikes again
“Images à la sauvette”, or “The Decisive Moment”, as it is known in the United States, is a book published in October 1952 by Simon and Schuster, which changed the course of Henri Cartier Bresson‘s life and dramatically influenced the art world. Henri Matisse designed the cover two years before he died, Teriade, the French publisher edited the book. The … Read More