Photography as a way of emancipation for women in the 19 th and 20 th century ? This is the theme of a marathon exhibition, set in two museums in and near the Tuileries gardens : Musée d’Orsay and l’Orangerie. Curated by Ulrich Pohlmann from the Stadtmuseum in Münich and Thomas Galifot and Marie Robert from Musée d’Orsay, it is a vast frescoe of talented and daring artists, some of which we already know well (Julia Margaret Cameron, Tina Modotti) others we discover here.
In the earlier stages, they come mostly from Great Britain, where Prince Albert created the Photographic Society and welcomed ladies as early as 1853. Alexandra, Princess of Wales, has a number of pictures exhibited but the star of l’Orangerie’s hanging, is definitely Frances Benjamin Johnston with many chefs d’œuvre.
After five large rooms with a theme such as “Masculin/Fémnin” or intimacy, self portraits, suffragettes in America, pictures referring to the first world war end the first part.
At Orsay, the atmosphere is different on the fifth floor of the museum. 20 th century pictures are more familiar, color appears regularly and self portraits are in fashion. Sexual flowers, (Tina Modotti) or plain fashion (Gisèle Freund) are quite striking, as are the first films in Afghanistan in 1939 or of trances in Bali in 1936.
All in all, it is a difficult exhibition to grasp for so many photographs are small, slightly faded, or badly lit on purpose. One has to concentrate on each one individually. The show gives a good idea of how much freedom, artistic endeavors could allow these young ladies.
It can be a bit tiresome if you see both exhibitions at the same time so I would recommend a brisk walk in the Tuileries in between. But it is quite a fascinating journey in ladies’s talent, a hundred years ago and full of nice surprises. ( until January 14, 2016)
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One Comment on “Who is afraid of lady photographers?”
We are not in Paris in those days so , sadly enough, we are going to miss such a interesting exhibition..