Through 400 original prints and
negatives, Photo Stories will retrace
over a century and a half of photography.
The exhibition will highlight works that
have immortalized the genre, including
those by renowned photographers
such as Eugène Atget, Laure Albin
Guillot, Dora Kallmus (known artistically
as Madame d’Ora), Man Ray, Cecil
Beaton, Robert Doisneau, Bettina Rheims
and David Seidner.
Photo Stories will
demonstrate, both chronologically
and semantically, the many fields that
photography has helped to shape,
be they political, economic, legal, artistic
or of a documentary nature. At the same
time, the exhibition will accentuate
the various junctions that exist between
photography and the decorative arts.
Moreover, it will shed new light on the
role that the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
has played in acknowledging
and disseminating photography since
its popularization as a legitimate
artistic genre.
Since its founding in 1864, the Union
centrale des beaux-arts appliqués
à l’industrie, the precursor of the Musée
des Arts Décoratifs, has envisaged
photography as an applied art form for its
capacity to educate and popularize,
serving as a highly effective means
of inspiring artisans and creators.
In 1883, a photographic laboratory had
already been installed on the premises
and the Union centrale des beauxarts
appliqués à l’industrie was able
to produce its own photography. With
this advancement, photographers
were called upon to join the ranks
of artists and artisans of the institution and
to employ this novel art form as a tool for
artists and creators. Over time, the Union
Centrale and its Library, would secure
innumerable photographs of works in their
original environments by the likes of Pierre
Chareau, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann and
Louis Sognot.
The 20th century brought with
it photographic exhibitions at the Musée
des Arts Décoratifs that nourished
the national identity, including the
1916 Exposition de Photographies
de Guerre (War Photographs Exhibition).
In 1955, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
hosted a retrospective devoted to the
photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson
and in 1975, a retrospective dedicated
to the photography of Jacques Henri
Lartigue. Photo Stories will comprise
six sections, showcasing the variety
and depth of the photographic holdings
of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
The sections will include the quest for
photographic models, views of countries,
photography at the service of the
heritage and commercial photography
in advertising, the press and fashion.
The exhibition begins with the
mid-19th century photographs
presented which will examine the
pedagogical use of photography and
underline the importance of photographs
in providing artists and artisans with
authentic representations of important
historical works including still lifes,
ornaments and figures. This new form
of access to historical masterpieces thus
thrust photography to the forefront
of artistic education in the mid-19th century.
The late 19th century was a time
of international exchange and
movement. With the popularization
of the Exposition Universelle (World’s
Fairs), particularly that of 1867 in Paris,
visitors were invited to explore
the “World Elsewhere” which had
often been overlooked, propelling
photography forward as the most
accessible means of discovery.
The photographic clichés taken abroad
ignited the imaginations of artists,
decorators and collectors the world-over
with photographs depicting colonial,
ethnographic, touristic and personal
scenes from South America to Asia,
and across Europe the length of the
Mediterranean. The photography also
bears witness to the realities of days
gone by and often serves as an important
historical record of the condition and
transformation of cultural heritage.
Examples include works as seen through
the lenses of Henri Le Secq and Edouard
Baldus, the first-ever photographers
to survey architecture in photographs.The late 19th century was a time
of international exchange and
movement. With the popularization
of the Exposition Universelle (World’s
Fairs), particularly that of 1867 in Paris,
visitors were invited to explore
the “World Elsewhere” which had
often been overlooked, propelling
photography forward as the most
accessible means of discovery.
The photographic clichés taken abroad
ignited the imaginations of artists,
decorators and collectors the world-over
with photographs depicting colonial,
ethnographic, touristic and personal
scenes from South America to Asia,
and across Europe the length of the
Mediterranean. The photography also
bears witness to the realities of days
gone by and often serves as an important
historical record of the condition and
transformation of cultural heritage.
Examples include works as seen through
the lenses of Henri Le Secq and Edouard
Baldus, the first-ever photographers
to survey architecture in photographs.The late 19th century was a time
of international exchange and
movement. With the popularization
of the Exposition Universelle (World’s
Fairs), particularly that of 1867 in Paris,
visitors were invited to explore
the “World Elsewhere” which had
often been overlooked, propelling
photography forward as the most
accessible means of discovery.
The photographic clichés taken abroad
ignited the imaginations of artists,
decorators and collectors the world-over
with photographs depicting colonial,
ethnographic, touristic and personal
scenes from South America to Asia,
and across Europe the length of the
Mediterranean. The photography also
bears witness to the realities of days
gone by and often serves as an important
historical record of the condition and
transformation of cultural heritage.
Examples include works as seen through
the lenses of Henri Le Secq and Edouard
Baldus, the first-ever photographers
to survey architecture in photographs.
The visitor then reaches the 1920’s
and 1930’s, when photography first
appeared in advertising.This section
reveals how the rise of photographic
modernism owes as much
to photographers themselves as it does
to graphic designers, editors and
decorators, who brought photographic
imagery into daily life. The Exposition
Internationale des Arts Décoratifs
et Industriels Modernes, for example,
held in Paris in 1925, participated in the
development of the photography
and photographic editions market
as photographs could be purchased
on a large scale. At the same time,
publications such as Art et Décoration,
L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, then
Connaissance des Arts increasingly
focused on photographic illustration
and often included the works
of photographers Thérèse Bonney, Dora
Kallmus and Jean Collas, spreading
photography even further while leading
to new tastes and interests.
It was also the ambition of the Union
Française des Arts du Costume (UFAC),
created in 1948 under the direction
of Francois Boucher, to bring together
a prestigious collection of fashion,
textiles and fashion photography
which would eventually be overseen
by and entrusted to the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs. The provision of the
collections of the Union Française
des Arts du Costume in 1981, and in
particular, their extensive fashion and
fashion photography holdings, became
the foundation of the fashion collections
of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. This
vast collection of fashion photography
documents the evolution of Parisian haute
couture, capturing works by the likes
of Charles Frederick Worth, Madeleine
Vionnet and Paul Poiret, visionary
designers whose works were recently
lauded in the exhibitions Harper’s
Bazaar, First in Fashion and Drawings
Without Reserve, both at the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs.
Photo Stories, a central part of the
2021 exhibition calendar, allows visitors
to discover the wealth and vastness of the
photographic holdings of the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs while revealing the intimate
contours of this art form, its founding
personalities and its most surprising
and unexpected expressions.