Like last year, the international fair dedicated to photography is taking up residence in the ephemeral Grand Palais, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. Panorama of this 25th edition with things seen and heard.
If there is something that resonates with the place, it is the pictures dedicated to the city of Paris that emerge here and there, like magnificent trophies that come to underline all of its intrinsic beauty. Whether at Karsten Greve with dozens prints of Herbert Lists Paris, Eugène Atget just next door or at Howard Greenberg, the lights of the Paris streets seized by Charles Marville, we have a series of images that depict the city of light and gives it all its letters of nobility.
It should also be noted that the quirky lamp posts of Marville are found at the stand of the town hall of Paris, present at the fair for the second time and which this year show how the services of the city are working on the restoration of period prints.
Herbert List’s photographs are precisely among the favorites of photographer François Halard, who came to visit, who says he “loved these views of Paris a lot”.
“Classicism and high level” this year affirms for her part the photographer Valérie Belin, met by chance in an alley. Others, whether artists, collectors or directors of institutions, prefer not to answer, as if embarrassed to have to engage their gaze. However, the general opinion is that this Paris Photo 2022 is a success, a harvest of “high quality” in the words of Juliette Agnel who presents her photographs of Sudan at the stand of the Clémentine de la Ferronnière gallery.
“Extraordinary quality”
In the continuity of previous years, we will find the magnificent views of New York by Saul Leiter at Howard Greenberg’s and also, more unusual perhaps, a sublime alley devoted to Gordon Parks who photographs the ostracism of which black Americans are victims, work done with gentleness and creativity.
The question of black Americans is also very present, with in particular a display dedicated to the works of Rosalind Fox Solomon organized by the MUUS Collection and a part of which deals precisely with the issue of American civil rights.
“This edition is of extraordinary quality”, says Marc Donnadieu, chief curator at Photo Elysée in Lausanne and adds: “There is a very fine articulation between History and the contemporary and how the past informs the present. Chance puts the march of the current world in conjunction with our history. It is based on the very beautiful display of the Dupont gallery from which it comes.
It is true that the displays are often successful, like that of the Zander gallery which offers us a splendid aisle dedicated to the work of Judith Joy Ross or even a wall to exhibit the work of Susan Meiselas on peep-show dancers. There is also, not far away, the interesting dialogue between Deana Lawson and Sally Mann at Gagosian.
Finally, not completely absent from the event, the news was there too, in particular Ukraine. The Alexandra de Viveiros gallery presents several high-profile Ukrainian artists and a series of photographer Boris Mikhaïlov hangs on the stand of the Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, like a dark backdrop that nevertheless floats on this great photo rendezvous.
By Jean-Baptiste Gauvin
