Parisian photo fever peaks in November

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 11/26/2006 12:37 PM  |  Life

Night or day, the City of Light is photogenic. Even as mobile phone snapshots, fleeting Parisian moments are cherished as visual souvenirs. Many of those blessed with truly observant eyes that sense the unusual, amusing or emotive, with the skill to instantly distill the essence of a scene and frame it with more conventional cameras, are based here.

Paris attracts a substantial portion of the global photography business: agencies and agents abound; archives struggle or thrive; magazines flourish or die; cameras are exchanged; museums and private clients collect prints and rare photo books. Meanwhile auctions, events, award ceremonies and exhibitions take place where the general public can profit from the wide variety of activities on offer and even buy inexpensive prints.

So popular is the concept of the biennial Parisian Month of Photography that it has spawned a European Month of Photography. The recently opened Quai Branly Museum is also introducing Photoquai, with ethnographic images from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, a biennal set to alternate with the Month of Photography starting November 2007.

The Month of Photography, usually held around November, is when professionals and the photo-hungry public make a point to meet. This year's biennial also coincides with the 10th annual edition of the sales fair, Paris Photo. Paris in November is thus clicking away with shutters and the clink of coins exchanged in private deals or at public auctions.

The 14th edition of the Month of Photography focuses on The Printed Page, a major 20th-century phenomenon, with 63 exhibitions. The heyday of this period lasted from the 1920s to '80s.

According to Jean-Luc Monterosso, director of the Maison de la Photographie (MEP) that organizes the event: ""In the era of digital photography, it is certainly important to review one of the essential phases of photography and its distribution via the printed page in books and magazines.""

Photo art historian Anne de Mondenard oversaw the section ""History of photographs and the history of publications"", where three exhibitions stood out: The Scrapbook of Henri Cartier-Bresson featuring rare prints developed by the maestro himself; and Things as They are: Photojournalism and the Press 1955-2005, which includes Life magazine, Paris Match, Stern, Sunday Times and The New Yorker ; and Regarder VU: Magazine Photographique, 1928-19401, over 600 original pages at the MEP.

""Desiring a Book"" (22 shows), was overseen by photo critic Gabriel Brauret.

Gautel's Maria Theodora about his Indonesian great-great grandmother at the Zadkine Museum, and My American Grandma 1993-1999 by Finn Nina Korhonen at the Swedish Cultural Center, touched visitors with their poignant and original use of photography.

Noted art director Peter Knapp was interested in ""The Press, The Magazine, the Book"", where Erich Lessing: Budapest 1956, the Revolution, Jeanloup Sieff: les Annees Bazaar, New York, 1961-1966, and Du: la revue culturelle d'une Suisse ouverte sur le monde admirably demonstrated the impact of the printed image.

Some enthusiasts combined the Month of Photography with a visit to Paris Photo. The four-day fairs' guests of honor this year were photographers and galleries from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway. The central show, Stella Polaris, presented five contemporary feminist Scandinavian artists -- Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Ulla Jokisalo, Astrid Kruse Jensen, Ruri and Mette Tronvoll -- whose striking and expressive images captivated the public.

Gunilla Knappe, director of the Hasselblad Center in Goteborg, Sweden, remarked: ""One reason for the proportionally large number of women photographers may have been that laws were passed during the late 1860s granting equal rights for women to be employed outside the home.""

""The Statement"" featured eight Scandinavian galleries representing young emerging photographers while contemporary Nordic video creations were shown in the ""Project-Room"". Nature, landscape and the skillful use of scarce daylight characterized the images, which often expressed concerns about the ecological destruction of hitherto untouched habitats.

One major influence in contemporary Scandinavian photography has been the Helsinki School. The director of the influential Helsinki University of Art and Design, Timothy Persons, observed that a conceptual approach seemed to dominate the majority of Nordic photography.

Paris Photo has emerged as a must for major international galleries and connoisseurs of photography, much like the ARPAD fair in New York or the Basel Art Fair. This year brought 88 galleries and 18 publishers from 21 countries to the event at Caroussel du Louvre.

For Priska Pasquer, co-director of Galerie Priska Pasquer in Cologne, Germany, commented: ""Paris Photo is the premier selling fair in Europe. It is a pleasure for us to show here not only because the fair attracts a substantial international clientele, but because in contrast to the German public, the French are very informed about historical and contemporary photography.""

The gallery specializes in photography of the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s, but also contemporary and Japanese art. Here, an August Sander print comes at 20,000 euros or a small Hans Bellmer print sets the buyer back 12,000 euros.

The wide spectrum on offer at Paris Photo spans modern classics of photography and contemporary photographic art echoing the current international trend. However, a healthy balance is guaranteed by the continued presence of several prestigious galleries dealing with vintage prints.

The most expensive print at Paris Photo was for sale by the Hans Kraus Gallery of New York. Balzac, The Open Sky -- 11 p.m. (1908) by Edward Steichen flaunted a price tag of more than 800,000 euros -- and failed to attract a buyer. The world record was set by another Steichen earlier this year. The Pond (1904) brought in 2.4 million euros for The Met in their February New York auction.

Mathieu Humery, 30, a photo dealer regrets, ""The double focus on vintage/classical photography and on contemporary developments at Paris Photo restricts the amount devoted to contemporary art based on photographic techniques, which is what I prefer.""

Would the young photo aficionado have appreciated the 13 images selected from 30 to compete in the BMW Paris Photo competition? They were supposed to portray Sublime Pleasure. The somewhat cerebral theme produced a mixed bag of images. An enigmatic photo by Mathieu Bernard-Raymond, Disappearance n89, (2006, Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris), won the 12,000-euro prize.

The very large, pale color print depicts an observer sitting in a glass box observation post overlooking a misty lake. An important trend of contemporary photographic art are enormous color prints, many digitally enhanced and influenced by sculpture, theater and other media. Rather than the smaller, more classic formats, these resemble enormous canvases.

Inexperienced but wealthy collectors-to-be would do well to concentrate on 1950s classics like Bill Brandt or Arnold Newman.

A viable alternative would be to start a collection of rare photo books with a pristine copy of Les Americains by Robert Frank (1958), available at Librairie 213 for a mere 350 euros.

At the same time, it would do to remember that the underlying pleasure of viewing the variety of photographic works displayed in Paris in November is that of an educational and enriching experience.

-- Kunang Helmi

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