© George Peter – Ellen von Unwerth – Tina Barney
On the occasion of Paris Photo 2024the Do It Team offers you its tier list of the best photo exhibitions to go and see Paris. Larger hotels like the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme who exposes Ellen von Unwerth to the Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation passing through galleries like the Palm Game or even the Gallery of the Moment at the heart of Marais : you will be served.
The exhibition at Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme traces the history of women's fashion photography, through the work ofEllen von Unwerth. A former leading model of the 70s, the German refined her artistic vision by observing the male gaze which often sexualized top models, including herself. By going behind the lens, she wanted to transform fashion photography by celebrating a erotic and subversive aestheticbut freed from male expectations. Ellen von Unwerth gives a huge middle finger to male gaze : its approach values women, making them actresses of their image, while renewing the codes of fashion photography.
The few works exhibited in the palace represent icons that you will 100% recognize. Drew Barrymore hilarious, Naomi Campbell rebel, Christy Turlington et Linda Evangelista on a walk, and Claudia Schiffer in its beginnings for Guess : ces girl boss of recent decades adorn the walls of Café Jeanne. The photographer also collaborated with the master bartender of the place to develop a cocktail spicyto savor while contemplating his works. An experience not to be missed!
Ellen Von Unwerth au Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme5 rue de la Paix, Paris 2nd, until December 1, 2024. Free entry.
© Ellen von Unwerth – Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme
La plus old school cool
In 2004, the opening of a gallery with no exhibition planned led its founder to explore her father's photographic archives, François Gragnonphotographer at Paris Match. The Gallery of the Moment was born. Julia Gragnon discovered in the archives of Paris Match a treasure trove of images, firstly showcasing his father's work. Then, thanks to new encounters and artistic friendships, the gallery became an exhibition space for other great photographers like Lucien Clergue, Paolo Pellegrin et Bruce Weber. The Gallery of the Moment is celebrating its 20th anniversary until January 12, 2025, and for the occasion, is offering a superb exhibition of its most beautiful photographs.
You will no doubt recognize many icons there: Kate Moss in a field, Madonna lasciviously lying on a sofa, a Jane Birkin disheveled hair, Linda Evangelista in his early years… The photos in black and white give a very nostalgic atmosphere to this exhibition not to be missed. Nestled in the heart of Maraisthe gallery and its two floors are a real little journey through the eras in the world of music, modeling or cinema. Favorite for the little one basement roomwhere the stone walls and the arched ceiling give an irresistible charm to the room covered in photographs. We would happily stay there for hours!
20 ANS ! has The Gallery of the Moment46 rue de Poitou, Paris 3rd, until January 12, 2025. Free entry.
© Georges Pierre – Lucienne Bloch
The Hermès Corporate Foundation has imagined a system of cross-residencies between France and the United States to encourage the production of new series. Raymond Meekswinner of their program, was able to carry out an artistic residency in France in 2022. During this stay, he explored the region of Calais and the Basque Countryfocusing particularly on the journeys of refugees who attempt to cross the borders of these historic regions. In his photographic series entitled The Inhabitants exposed to the Henri Cartier Bresson Foundationhe captures landscapes and everyday objects abandoned by migrants – shoes, blankets, jackets – in often inhospitable and temporary places: ditches, highway edges and wastelands. A real sneak peak in the lives of these people who we often only see out of the corner of our eyes…
This work, which focuses on the traces left by migrants rather than their faces, testifies to the precariousness of their movements in transitory places. The series of photographs offers numerous shots in black and white but also in colors. Meeks thus continues his artistic reflection on the way in which individuals occupy the world, the way in which they are inhabitants of it (Inhabitants) and the invisible links that connect them.
The Inhabitants, Henri-Cartier Bresson Foundation79 rue des Archives, Paris 3rd, until January 5, 2025. From €10.
© Raymond Meeks – Lobjoy-Bouvier-Boisseau Architecture
The French artist Mame-Diarra Niang explore the “black body” in his new series of photos exhibited at the Henri Cartier Bresson Foundationseeking to free it from Western representations and stereotypes that have frozen it for too long. Rather than defining it or telling it, she attempts to “un-identify“and create”non-portraits” – abstract images which refer to the very essence of the body – by stripping it of its overly defining factors. She questions its identify as a black woman as a constantly evolving flow, composed of furtive experiences, memories but also forgetting. This is also what inspires the name of this exhibition: Remember to forget.
This photography series project, initiated during confinement, sees her rephotographing screens and exploiting the visual defects photography (such as blur and distortions). Mame-Diarra Niang wants to produce enigmatic images: inspired by the taches the Rorschach (the ink stains on a paper that the psychologists have the patient interpret), she uses these imperfections to offer projection surfaces, inviting the viewer to reflect on aspects unconscious of identity, rather than what is apparent and obvious. An exhibition with unexpected and surprising works!
Remember to forget. to the Henri-Cartier Bresson Foundation79 rue des Archives, Paris 3rd, until January 5, 2025. From €10.
© Mame-Diarra Niang – Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation
The craziest
The exhibition dedicated to Tina Barney au Palm Game is the artist's largest European retrospective to date, covering 40 ans of his career. A photographer born in 1945, Barney began capturing her loved ones in the 1970s, exploring the family dynamics and especially intergenerational in domestic scenes carefully staged. His large-format portraits, inspired in their composition and size by classical painting, reveal intimate moments between subjects, such as cooking or lunch scenes, or even walks in large numbers. You almost feel like you're part of the family! Tina Barney makes her art a real path of reflection on his own identity: “The only way to question yourself or the story of your life is through photography.”
She also photographed celebrities for the press and brands luxeshowing the same sensitivity and complexity as in his personal work. The exhibition presents 55 prints comprising personal and commissioned works, including portraits of figures known as Julianne Moore. Some, ultra-colorful and supercharged, are a real journey into the 1970s and 1970s. We love this exhibition which almost becomes one movie set !
Family Ties, Jeu de Paume Paris1 place de la Concorde, Paris 8th, until January 19, 2025. From €12.
© Tina Barney – Jeu de Paume – Nicolas Krief
