Philippe Gassmann is the owner of Picto.
Following the Rencontres d’Arles for Fifty years , it’s shaking up memories … The stories of my grandfather and my father, both close to the photographers of their time, the emotions of the successive teams of the Picto laboratories, which are often at the forefront of the production of exceptional exhibitions …
So if there was only one souvenir it would be of our sixty years anniversary hosted by the Rencontres in 2010. François Hébel, then director of the event, and Jean-Paul Capitani for Actes Sud and Méjan, answered the challenge of a major exhibition celebrating six decades of Picto alongside photographers. An experience that made me feel more clearly, the special relationship created by my grandfather with photography, its history and its creators.
We choose to invite a hundred photographers – or their descendants for some of them – close to the adventure of the laboratory to share with us their vision of complicity. We wanted to find a transverse subject in time, which remained alive throughout Picto’s history since its creation after the war. The “complicity” of the photographers with the printers and the retouchers, this ambition that we always had to see with the eyes of the other, that’s what we wanted to share with the audiences of the Rencontres d’Arles.
If many photographers have done us the honor of their presence, it was also an opportunity for us to do a great tour of the stages of Picto with the testimony of great printers – whether current collaborators or others who have walked a while with Picto – who share their visions of the otherness of collaboration with photographers.
And then it is especially the memory of a beautiful family celebration that brought together faithful and committed collaborators, accomplices and committed photographers too, and all those other companions who give meaning to the photographs that we sleep each year on multiple media in an attempt to bring us closer to a better vision of the world.
Fifty years later we come back again and again to these Rencontres d’Arles. With other photographers, other perspectives but always this same excitement on the lookout for the image arriving in the Camargue sun.
Fifty years to follow the Rencontres d’Arles, it’s shaking up memories … The anecdotes of my grandfather and my father, both close to the photographers of their time, the emotions of the teams successive Picto laboratories, which will often be at the forefront of the production of exceptional exhibitions …
So if it were to remain one it would be that of our sixty years hosted by the Rencontres in 2010. François Hébel, then director of the event, and Jean-Paul Capitani for Actes Sud and the Méjan, responded to the challenge of a major exhibition celebrating six decades of Picto alongside photographers. An experience that will make me more clearly feel this special relationship created by my grandfather with photography, its history and its creators.
We will choose to invite a hundred photographers – or their descendants for some of them – close to the adventure of the laboratory to share with us their vision of complicity. We wanted to find a transverse subject in time, which will remain alive throughout Picto’s history since its creation after the war. The “complicity” of the photographers with the shooters and the retouchers, this ambition that we always had to see with the eyes of the other, that’s what we wanted to share with the audiences of the Rencontres d’Arles.
If many photographers have done us the honor of their presence, it will also be an opportunity for us to do a great tour of the stages of Picto with the testimony of great shooters – whether current collaborators or others who have walked a while with Picto – who share their visions of the otherness of collaboration with photographers.
And then it will be especially the memory of a beautiful family celebration that will bring together faithful and committed collaborators, accomplices and committed photographers too, and all those other companions who give meaning to the photographs that we lay each year on multiple media in an attempt to bring us closer to a better vision of the world.
Fifty years later we come back again and again to these Rencontres d’Arles. With other photographers, other perspectives but always this same excitement on the lookout for the image arriving in the Camargue sun.
Philippe Gassmann
