The Bibliothèque nationale de France, a mecca for photographic conservation, is giving pride of place to this medium through a cycle of conferences during the fall of 2024, dedicated to the Paris of photographers, and offering visitors incursions into its heritage collections.
Original pieces, exceptionally released from the reserves of the Department of Prints and Photography of the BnF and the French Society of Photography, are revealed to the public at the end of each session.
Cradle of photography, Paris was, throughout the 19th century, an essential motif and a mecca for the practice of the medium. From the first daguerreotype artists to avant-garde photographers, including fin de siècle professionals, everyone has appropriated the city as an open-air workshop.
Paris, capital of the arts, is also a hotbed that encourages meetings and exchanges.
A new cycle of four conferences allows us to revisit this part of Parisian life by combining a history of the city, at a time of great upheaval, and a history of photography in the decades following its invention.
Conferences cycle
The Paris of photographers (1839-1927)
October – December 2024
Wednesday November 20, 2024
Eugène Atget, photographer-historian of old Paris
Thursday December 5, 2024
Photographers of old Paris at the turn of the 20th century: combined perspectives
Thursday December 12, 2024
New views on the city
BnF I Richelieu I Conference room I 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Free entry by reservation on www.bnf.tickeasy.com
