Iconic figures of mountain photography, the Tairraz have shaped a universal view of the high mountains.
The aesthetic of their art still permeates mountain photography today. Thanks to the exceptional loan from the family, the Musée de l’Ancien Évêché is dedicating a major retrospective to them with nearly 120 photographs presented.
Coming from an old family from Chamonix, there are four of them – Joseph, Georges I, Georges II and Pierre Tairraz – who passed down from father to son their passion for the mountains and photography, fascinated by the magic of Mont Blanc and of its photogenic valley.
From the beginnings of photography – in the 1850s – to the end of the 20th century, this line of seasoned mountaineers, three of whom are high mountain guides and the fourth an aspiring guide, make the “roof of Europe” their privileged terrain of shots.
Joseph, the one who reveals the mountain; George I, the one who immortalized it in large format; George II, the one who sublimates it; Pierre, the one who embodies him; all bear this “Tairraz look”, that of the absolute eye which magnifies the high mountains, captures the atmospheres, the lighting, the verticalities, the masses as accurately as possible and restores them with realism. All with the humility and sensitivity of those who seek beauty, poetry, harmony, emotion and dreams in the high peaks.
With this exhibition, the public will discover the work of these four photographers, two of whom are also filmmakers, who for nearly one hundred and fifty years sublimated the mountain.
Tairraz. Four generations of photographer guides
from November 10, 2023 to September 1, 2024
Musée de l’Ancien Évêché
2, rue Très-Cloîtres
38 000 Grenoble
04 76 03 15 25
www.musees.isere.fr
