As part of the Normandie impressionniste festival and the Cerisy conference devoted to color in photography, the MAP draws on its rich collections to trace the history of color photography, from its early technical difficulties to its current dominance. The exhibition takes place at the médiathèque in Saint-Lô, from August 1 to October 15, 2020.
Color photography was in its infancy at the end of the 19th century, and remained marginal until the Second World War. Hand-coloring techniques were the very first to answer the appeal of color: projection plates, prints, postcards. Autochrome plates, marketed from 1907, gave amateurs such as the young Lartigue the chance to immortalize their leisure pursuits. Professional use, however, remained limited to war photography, archaeology, architecture, and travel photography. In 1935 and 1936, flexible color film from Kodak and Agfa arrived, but this technical development spread little in France before the war.
After 1945, all the technical, industrial, social, and commercial elements came together to make greater use of color. Photographers such as André Kertész and Willy Ronis responded to commercial demand from the press and advertising, but black and white, for aesthetic and technical reasons, remained the preference of artists.
The status of color shifted in the 1970s and 1980s. Color photographs kept better, and it was during this period that photography became legitimized as an art form: markets, museums, and collectors entered the scene. Photographers gained a certain freedom and became less dependent on the press and commissions. Color processes then played a part in renewing or shaping the aesthetic of certain photographers, such as Daniel Boudinet, Dolorès Marat, and John Batho. Finally, digital technology in the 2000s once again upended these techniques, some of which disappeared, in favor of the artist’s total control over their photography, from the shot to the print.
Curators
Mathilde Falguière-Léonard and Ronan Guinée (MAP)
Le Triomphe de la Couleur
A history of color photography in the MAP collections
August 1 – October 15, 2020
Médiathèque La Source
Place du Champ de Mars
50000 Saint-Lô
https://mediatheque-patrimoine.culture.gouv.fr/
