In the late 1950s, Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm moved to Paris and settled in Place Blanche, the heart of the city’s vibrant red-light district and home to the legendary Moulin Rouge. The swirling nightlife of that neighborhood—outdoor freak shows, sidewalk performers, bewildered spectators—provided ideal subjects for the photographer. It was in this surreal scene that Strömholm (1918–2002) met and befriended a community of young transsexuals, working at night to raise money for sex-change operations. Physically male but psychologically women, these “girlfriends” took hormones, adopted female names, wore feminine clothing and glamorous hairdos, costume jewelry and glittering make-up. They were, in fact, quintessential women—charismatic stars straight out of a Fellini movie. Over the next ten years, Strömholm shared their daily lives, photographing them in hotel rooms, bars, and dimly lit streets. An insider in their universe but never a voyeur, he witnessed their existence with tenderness, sensitivity, and wit, and always a strong sense of accountability to the lives he documented.
This exhibition—the first presentation of Strömholm’s work in an American museum—features the powerful series of photographs that resulted from this experience: Les Amies de Place Blanche (The Girlfriends of Place Blanche). Strömholm’s intimate portraits and lush, Brassaï-like night scenes comprise a magnificent, dark, and moving photo album, a soulful tribute to the girls. In addition, these pictures constitute a rare and subtle account of pre-1968 France, charged with the anxieties and melancholy of a repressed society. Under the ultraconservative regime of French president Charles de Gaulle, transsexuals were outlaws, regularly abused and arrested by the police for being “men dressed as women outside the period of carnival.” Some of these women had tragic fates. Others, like Nana and Jacky, eventually fulfilled their destinies and became the joyful women they were meant to be. A personal manifesto and a precious record of an ongoing social struggle, this photo-essay raises profound issues about sexuality and gender. As Strömholm wrote in 1983, “It was then—and still is—about obtaining the freedom to choose one’s own life and identity.”
Christer Strömholm was born in 1918 in Stockholm and passed away ten years ago, in 2002. He was the father figure of Scandinavian photography, and an influential teacher: his disciples include today’s leading Swedish photographers, J.H. Engström, Anders Petersen, and Lars Tunbjörk. Highly revered in his native Sweden since the 1960’s, recipient of the Hasselblad Award in 1997, he remains little known outside Europe.
I discovered Strömholm thanks to the Galerie Vu’ in Paris, who promoted and exhibited his work since the early 2000’s. During Paris Photo at the Grand Palais last year, the ICP exhibit happened to be right in front of Vu’s booth, which provided the ideal opportunity to talk at length with Gilou Le Gruiec and Vincent Marcilhacy about Strömholm’s work and the special night they were organizing at the Swedish Institute, celebrating the publication of Les Amies de Place Blanche. That special event proved to be a decisive one: Brian Wallis, our Chief Curator, attended with Alice Zimet, an early Strömholm collector and ardent supporter of a show at ICP. A couple of months later, Brian offered me to curate Les Amies de Place Blanche at ICP, and to organize a special event in New York just like the memorable Paris night. It will happen this week, on Friday May 18th,and Gaëtane, aka ‘Jacky’, will be the highlight of the evening. Joakim Strömholm, son of Christer and director of his estate, was incredibly generous and lent us most of the works in the show, about 40, including original publications and ephemera. Alice Zimet and the Marvelli Gallery — the first gallery to present Strömholm’s work in New York — lent us beautiful prints as well. Here are some of my favorite pictures in the show.
Pauline Vermare is a Curatorial Assistant at the International Center of Photography, New York
Publication: “Les Amies de Place Blanche”
Paris: Aman Iman / New York : Dewi Lewis
2012 is quite a year for Strömholm: ‘Les Amies de Place Blanche’ is being shown in London, Rome, and New York; and later this year, Stockholm’s Fotografiska will organize a major retrospective of his work, accompanied by a major publication.
Christer Strömholm: Les Amies de Place Blanche
May 18 – September 2, 2012
ICP – International Center of Photography
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