“Regards”, a book which tells the story of Fnac with photography

To mark its 70th anniversary, Fnac returns to the forefront of the photographic scene with several news releases in the fall. Among them, the publication of an exceptional 300-page work which has just been published by Gallimard. Entitled “Regards”, it testifies to the unique relationship that Fnac maintains with photography – works and artists – and which has marked French society for decades. It was therefore natural, to celebrate the brand’s 70th anniversary, to once again democratize this visual art, through a landmark work.

“Regards”, a summary of the masterpieces of the Fnac collection

250 images taken by the greatest photographers of the 20th century such as Berenice Abbott, Robert Capa, Henry Clarke, Philippe Halsman, André Kertész, and Man Ray, are highlighted in “Regards”, under the direction of Quentin Bajac , director of the Jeu de Paume, in Paris. These works were chosen from the 1,800 photographs in the Fnac collection.

The Fnac collection

Thanks to Laura Serani and François Hébel, who worked to acquire leading photographic works, an extraordinary artistic heritage has been created over the course of exhibitions by Fnac. It bears witness to the world, its social movements and its landscapes, personalities and anonymous people alike. From the end of the 1960s, in-store exhibitions made it possible to highlight artists who lacked space to exhibit. This unique ensemble was entrusted for conservation, in 2014, to the Nicéphore Niépce museum in Chalon-sur-Saône.

Photography at the heart of the celebration of Fnac’s 70th anniversary

Several major exhibitions will present the Fnac photographic collection, established in the 1970s, to a wide audience:

• Paris Photo (November 7 to 10, 2024 at the Grand Palais);
• Salon de la Photo (from October 10 to 13, 2024 at the Grande Halle de la Villette);
• Planches Contact Festival (from October 26, 2024 to January 5, 2025, Les Franciscaines, in Deauville);
• SNCF Gares & Connexions (from October 1 to November 15, 2024 in Nantes, Strasbourg and Marseille (Saint-Charles), and from October 15 to November 29, 2024 at Lille Europe Station).

Each exhibition will present a different corpus of works from the collection, which are all testimonies of reality through photography. The public will be able to find, among others, the iconic images of Gabriele Basilico, Edouard Boubat, Brassaï, Gisèle Freund, Gilbert Garcin, Frank Horvat, William Klein, Sergio Larrain, Tina Modotti, Willy Ronis, Sabine Weiss…

Discover how Fnac is celebrating photography for its 70th anniversary in the press kit.