Eyes on Paris!

Guest Blog by J. Sybylla Smith

Paris Photo is an annual banquet of photography – an embarrassment of riches and a feast for the eyes. My Photo Paris phone app highlighted 77 galleries and 21 Programme events I hoped to consume during the four day fair. A companion word document listed the open hours and addresses for myriad outside offerings I aspired to attend including Photo Festival Saint Germain, Off Print Art Publishing Fair, Polycopies book market, Fotofever, and a vast array of photo galleries beckoning from several arrondissements. Unlikely to fulfill this impossible mission given the constraints of time, the attempt remains my favorite challenge. As Robert Klein aptly observed, “You are a glutton for image consumption.”

Collage of events at 2015 Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

iPhone app used for Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Inside Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

The fair hosts 147 galleries from 34 countries drawing collectors, photographers, academics, curators and the admiring public. Housed in the elegant Grand Palais, a cavernous Beaux Art structure featuring a massive glass and steel clerestory, natural light streams in by day and offers a glowing reflection of the fair below by night. Marble staircases lead to the first floor galleries dedicated to special collections.

New this year is PRIMES, showcasing exceptionally large format images and works in series.

Zander Gallery at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Cologne-based Thomas Zander Gallery presented the full set of 60 prints by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Walker Evans, Garry Winograd and Lee Friedlander from the original 1973, Double Elephant, portfolio. The complete set of prints is available for €450,000 or as a four-volume set of books. Taka Ishii Gallery (Japan, Paris and New York) installed an exhibition of 2016 polaroids by Nobuyoshi Araki.

Taka Ishii Gallery at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Bruce Silverstein Gallery at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Bruce Silverstein featured Rosalind Solomon’s harrowing body of work Portraits in the Time of AIDS. These images are as raw today as when they were taken in 1988. Flower (London, New York) is known for its focus on socio-cultural and environmental themes. Here it showcased a gargantuan landscape image, Untitled, #18134, by Korean photographer, Boomoon.

Flowers Gallery at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Trends are reflected in terms of output and clearly the über print, use of grid formation, and images mounted to substrates under plexiglass continue to be popular. On the main floor, galleries experimented with unique portals, exposed paint-splattered cement floors and boldly painted walls of fuchsia, ochre and cerulean to mixed reviews. The outrageous color of the Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery held it’s own against the larger-than-life Jergen Teller image of a slithering Kim Kardashian.

Jergen Teller image at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

A “Portal” captured at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Peter Fetterman at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Sage at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

I was delighted to see Li Wei’s, Vision, sponsored by Pernod Ricard. An ardent fan of his highly improbable constructed narratives, he captures my sentiments of being in Paris.

Li Wei at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Li Wei at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Attending book signings could be a full-time endeavor as the galleries and book sellers schedule over two hundred options. It was a special occasion to join Rania Matar, Kristen Gresh, Karen Haas and Anne Havinga of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in celebrating the pre-release of L’Enfant-Femme.

Rania Matar and Kristen Gresh at Rania’s book signing at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Aperture Foundation partners with Paris Photo to award three book prizes announced at the fair. The short-listed books are exhibited, and fortunately this year received an elevated section with a thoughtful lay-out. This year the $10k First Photobook award went to You Haven’t Seen Their Faces by Damiel Maynit ( RIOT Books).

Aperture Foundation Photobook Award winner at Paris Photo by J. Sybylla Smith.

Of the multiple exhibits I was able to attend outside the fair I will note my highlights. Who’s Afraid of Women Photographers?, is an outstanding and scholarly historic examination of the significant role of women since photography’s inception. Musee de L’Orangerie featured the work of 75 women photographers from 1839-1919. The aim, (as paraphrased from the catalogue) being to reveal territories of gender, strategies for critical and commercial success, and to expose the use of photography for emancipation and subversion. The concurrent exhibition at the Musee D’Orsay covers 100 photographers during the interwar years, 1918-1945. Again the use of the medium as a vehicle for empowerment is evident, as is the integral role women played in such avant-garde movements as Surrealism and New Vision. This exhibit alone is worthy of a transatlantic trip.

Self-portrait by Claude Cahun.

Self-portrait by Wanda Wulz.

“Portrait de Joan Maude, 1932” by Madame Yevonde (1893-1975), colour print courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

FotoFever, held in the Carrousel du Louvre, the former home of Paris Photo, draws international galleries, aspiring collectors and emerging artists. It is an excellent venue to be exposed to new artists, trends and affordable art.

Images by Aline Smithson at FotoFever by J. Sybylla Smith.

Part of the magic of Paris Photo is the serendipitous discoveries one finds when not looking. Such happened last year when I fell upon Eric Antoine’s hauntingly beautiful ambrotypes at Laurence Esnol Gallery. Frénésie du silence, his new series of portraits and landscapes, are patiently photographed in his rural studio. I was pleased to meet him again and to purchase a copy of his new monograph,ENSEMBLE SEUL.

Laurence Esnol Gallery in Paris by J. Sybylla Smith.

And lastly, I am indebted to the gracious hospitality of Galerie Christophe who warmly welcomed me, and fellow equally-stunned attendees, on the ominous Saturday morning following the Paris attacks. While the panel discussion planned with Charlotte Cotton, Rachel De Joode, John Lehr, Matthew Porter and Hannah Whitaker did not take place – a lovely meeting of new friends did.

Galerie Christophe in Paris by J. Sybylla Smith.

For a more in-depth review and slide presentation please join me at The Griffin Museum of Photography on February 25th, 2016.

J. Sybylla Smith is an independent curator, lecturer and consultant of fine art photography having initiating 25 solo and group exhibitions featuring over 70 international photographers. An adjunct professor, guest lecturer and thesis advisor she created the university curriculum Concept Aware: Elements of the Creative Practice, to develop an idea into a concept and an image into a style, a project or a body of work.

Feature Image: Petit Palais, Paris, at dusk by J. Sybylla Smith.