Monday, October 1, 2018

French Twist: Masterworks of photography from Atget to Man Ray



THE FRICK PITTSBURGH 
 February- May 2019


In the early 20th century , between the two world wars, Paris saw a  fervor of change. From 1910 to 1940, the city became a creative epicenter for artistic exploration,  attracting international avant-garde artists —including photographers experimenting with Surrealism,  Modernism,  and the new reportage.  


French Twist: Masterworks of Photography from Atget to Man Ray, features  100 vintage prints from this golden age of French photography and explores the variety and  inventiveness of native and immigrant photographer s working in France in the early 20th century.  

 This exhibition presents a number of themes that capture the flavor and night life of Paris at this exciting  moment. “Life of the Streets,” “Diversions ,” and “Paris by Night” are just some of the topics that these  masterful photographs explore. 

Visitors will experience Eugène Atget’s lyrical views of Paris streets  and gardens,  Man Ray’s surrealist experiments, and  Henri Cartier-Bresson’s pioneering  photojournalism, as well as works by  Ilse Bing, Brassaï, Jacques -Henri Lartigue, André Kertész, and  Dora Maar. Many of these artists settled in France for life , while others, fleeing the Nazis, brought their  Paris trained sensibilities and influences to America.  

From the lyrical architectural views of Atget to the Surrealist inventions of Man Ray and Dora Maar, from the boyish wonder of Lartigue to the crepuscular moodiness of Brassaï, from the elegant still lifes of Kertész to the sophisticated street theater of Cartier-Bresson and Ilse Bing, all major facets of French photography are surveyed and celebrated.

  Main sections in the exhibition:

Eugène Atget 

The exhibition opens with one of the most significant figures in the history of photography, Eugène  Atget, whose work influenced a range of artists from Surrealists to documentary photographers. This  selection encompasses pictures of city streets, architectural details, and the gardens at Versailles and  includes one of his most famous photographs,  

 Atget_Corsets-in-the-Window

 Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets, 1912
Eugène Atget (1857–1927)
Printing‐out paper, 8 3/4 x 7 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg

 Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets (1912). 

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Eugène Atget Nymphaeas, Versailles, ca. 1910

 

Eugene Atget
French 1857 - 1927
Bassin de la Villette, ca. 1900
albumen print
6 x 8 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
© Eugene Atget Estate

La vie de la rue (Life of the Street) 

This section includes images of the streets and buildings of Paris —of the bustling Champ -de -Mars  and the deserted Avenue du Maine —and features a large selection of photographs by Ilse Bing. In  her modernist views of urban architecture, Bing provides a modern take on the old city through  unexpected angles and dramatic cropping. 

Divertissement (Diversions) 

Divertissement focuses on the myriad amusements available in the City of Light s. Lartigue provides  an insider’s view of upper-class life in the Belle Epoque, while Bing and Brassaï chronicle the  attractions of the dance hall, the theater, and the street. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson   

The master of the “decisive moment” and one of the most significant photojournalists of the 20 th century, Henri Cartier -Bresson is featured along with 17 famous photographs from his travels around  the world.  This section includes his stellar images of the Spanish Second Republic and his iconic  view of the coronation of George VI in London. 

Les basses classes (The Lower Classes) 

Between the wars, photographers from Ilse Bing to Andre Kertész to Brassaï chronicled lives of poor  Pari sians, often bringing a Modernist sensibility, rather than a reformer’s eye, to scenes of urban  poverty. 

Paris de nuit (Paris by Night)

In 1933 Brassaï released his photo book  Paris by Night,  which chronicled the city’s streets and  amusements after dark. The book became an immediate success and Brassaï became famous as the  foremost photographer of the city’s bars and brothels, performers , and prostitutes.  

L’art pour l’art (Art for Art’s Sake) 

This section focuses on the technical experimentation and virt uoso technique of photographers  including Pierre Dubreuil, Edward Steichen, and Pal Funk Angelo. It features examples of unusual  techniques like  cliché-verre , solarization, and oil printing.   

 Andre Kertész, Dora Maar, Man Ray 

These three important photographers —all immigrants to Paris between the Wars and all involved in  Surrealist movement —are featured in individual sections that highlight their most famous works.  Kertész is represented by his photographs of the painter Piet Mondrian’s studio. Maar’s Surrealist  street photographs capture her dark humor, and a full complement of Man Ray’s experimental and  psychologically charged images summarize his photographic interests.   

La figure (Portraits and Nudes) 

La Figure showcases experimental approaches to the classic subject of the female nude, including a  cameraless photograph and a solarization by Man Ray and a distortion created with fun-house -type  mirrors by Kertész.   

 


115aManRayKiki1923
Kiki de Montparnasse, 1923
Man Ray (1890–1976)
11 x 8 3/4 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
© 2012 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

Cartier-Bresson_Hyeres-France-1 Cartier-Bresson_CoronationKingGeo-1
Hyères, 1932
Henri Cartier‐Bresson (1908–2004)
7 7/8 x 11 5/8 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos
Coronation of King George VI, London, 1938
Henri Cartier‐Bresson (1908–2004)
14 x 9 1/2 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos

Bing_Champ-de-Mars-from-Eiffel-Tower
ChampdeMars from the Eiffel Tower, 1931
Ilse Bing (1899–1998)
7 1/2 x 11 inches
Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
© Estate of Ilse Bing. Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York

 

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  • Ilse Bing, German 1899 – 1998, Chair, Champs Elysées, 1931, gelatin silver print, 11 1/8 x 8 3/4 inches. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg © Ilse Bing Estate

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  • Ilse Bing, German 1899 – 1998, Cancan dancers, Moulin Rouge, 1931, gelatin silver print, 10 1/4 x 13 3/8 inches. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg © Ilse Bing Estate