It is always intimidating to visit an exhibition of African art because one knows little about this culture which so fascinated Apollinaire and Picasso and their contemporaries and yet the genuine beauty of most objects is immediately palpable. So I encourage you to go and see the amazing masks at Musée du Quai Branly- Jacques Chirac where the exhibition « Les … Read More
Albert Renger-Patzsch, German photography at its best!
I had never heard of German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897-1966), who had a fabulous career in Germany and in America but for some obscure reason, remained fairly unknown in France. The founder of objectivity in photography and one of the promoters of photography as modern art, he was brought to Musée du Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries by Portuguese … Read More
Andres Serrano, a treasure hunt at Petit Palais
After Kehinde Wiley last October, Petit Palais is now exhibiting controversial American photographer Andres Serrano as a teaser for a treasure hunt on the two floors of its permanent collections. The access is free for all and it is quite fun to rediscover the Greek statues or Luca della Robbia glazed terra-cotta through Serrano’s violent photographs. If you decide to attend … Read More
Irving Penn is a 100 at the Grand Palais
We all know Irving Penn’s fabulous fashion shots for Vogue and his portraits of famous writers and painters. But I had never seen his series of Cuzco peasants photographed in 1948 nor his cigarette buts which were so visionary at the time : the exhibition of mostly black and white pictures at the Grand Palais is stunning and so elegantly laid … Read More
Raymond Depardon “Chez” Cartier Besson
Raymond Depardon was born in 1942 in a farm near Villefranche sur Saône, in Burgundy. His early life was not easy but he always knew that photography was his passion, as he was telling us at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, where a hundred of his pictures are exhibited until December 17. And very soon his parents accepted the fact that he … Read More
Photos, photos and more at MEP
The first exhibitions of the Rentrée in Paris were held last week at Maison Européenne de la Photographie and there were three openings at the same time. The French artists Anne and Patrick Poirier are showing old and new photographs “Vagabondages argentiques, 50 ans de bricolage photographique”, the Burmese-Indian father and son Richard and Pablo Bartholomew are exhibited in parallel in “Affinités” … Read More
Chloé-Bourdin a winning team
There was a discreet article advertising the Bourdin exhibition at the couture house of Chloé’s new headquarters on the discreet rue de la Baume in the eigth arrondissement. One had to reserve a time during the day and I did. And good for me because now, it has become difficult to get a slot before September 6 th when the … Read More
Walker Evans revisited at Beaubourg
American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975) has to be one of the most popular of 20 th century artists and his shots of the Depression years commissioned by the Farm Security administration are so well known that it took me a little while to visit Centre Pompidou’s show of 400 photographs and letters. I finally went just before dinner at 7.30 … Read More