James Baes and Uwe Ommer, two forgotten masters of 1970s erotic photography are on display at Galerie Javault – Eva Pritsky until June 29, 2025.
James Baes
Born in Paris in 1936, James Baes was introduced early to the female form through the work of his father, Emile Baes, a Flemish painter known for his colorful and classic nudes. In the 1960s, James moved to Rome and began his photography career at Cinecittà Studios as European correspondent for Cinema magazine. His sensual, cinematic style quickly caught the eye of Lui, Photo, Zoom, and Playboy.
Moving fluidly between fashion, erotic photography, and campaigns for brands like Fiorucci, Baes became a defining visual voice of his era. At Stern, where he was lead photographer for over a decade, he helped shape the magazine’s bold fashion identity, creating some of its most iconic covers featuring stars such as Jane Birkin and Claudia Cardinale.
In 2006, Philippe Garner, then International Head of Photography at Christie’s, called Baes “the absolute master of his genre” and one of “the most underrated photographers of the past 30 years.” Since his death in 2017, his archives have been overseen by the James Baes Foundation, formed by his four children and curated by his daughter, Olivia Baes.
Shown for the first time, these 22 photographs capture the essence of James Baes’s style: cinematic, playful, and attuned to the vibration of life. The often surreal scenes evoke the fantasy of a vanished era—one where sensuality and light were inseparably fused.
The son of a painter who kept his models in the studio, Baes took the opposite approach: he brought his female subjects into the world—into sun, movement, and freedom. Even in their most erotic moments, these images reveal more than flesh; they embody a spirit of adventure.
Shot across borders, often in defiance of local laws, these photographs are relics of a time when freedom and play reigned—not just as themes, but as a way of life.
Uwe Ommer
Uwe Ommer is a German photographer, born in 1943, who has been based in Paris since the 1960s. A passionate self-taught artist, he began his career by winning the Young German Photography Prize in 1962.
In the years that followed, he made a name for himself in the world of fashion and advertising, collaborating with prestigious brands such as Charles Jourdan, Kodak, Pirelli, and Ungaro.
At the same time, he developed a personal body of work focused on female beauty, notably through series published by Taschen starting in the 1980s: Black Ladies, Asian Ladies, Do It Yourself, as well as features in numerous magazines such as Playboy, Lui, and Photo. He highlighted models who were often underrepresented in the media of the time, and whom he had to push to get accepted by editorial teams.
In 1995, a dinner with friends inspired an ambitious project: photographing families from around the world against a neutral background to illustrate the universality of the family unit. Between 1996 and 2000, he traveled to 130 countries, created over 1,200 family portraits, and published the book 1000 Families, which was accompanied by a monumental exhibition at Photokina in Cologne. Uwe Ommer received numerous awards, including the Ptolemy Prize at the International Geography Festival in 2003 for his work on families.
His work, exhibited on every continent, reflects a humanist vision and a constant search for diversity and authenticity. This exhibition brings together unique pieces that embody this perspective, as well as recent prints from the Do It Yourself series, which anticipated today’s use of the selfie.
James Baes – Uwe Ommer, 1970 – 2000
Curated by Liv Baes, Leiris Javault, and Philippe Joppin
Until June 29, 2025
Galerie Javault – Eva Pritsky
6 rue de Tocqueville
75017 Paris
https://galeriejavault.com/
[email protected]
Exhibition open Thursday to Sunday from 2:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and by appointment.
Call to access the exhibition: 07 69 66 04 34
