Ilse Bing Danseuse-Cancan, Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1931;Voila, May 4, 1935; Hans Bellmer La Poupée (The Doll), 1934
New York’s International Center of Photography is currently showing Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris; an exhibition that explores the impact of Surrealism on photographers working in Paris in the 20s and 30s.
The exhibition contains over 150 photographs, magazines, films and visuals of the period, and shows the leading role played by photography in both the art world and that of popular culture.
Paris was a city of fantasy and chance encounters for Surrealist artists of the 20s and 30s. During this period of unprecedented social and cultural transformation, photography played a dramatic new role in both avant-garde practice and mass culture. In their works, photographers such as Jacques-André Boiffard, Brassaï, Ilse Bing, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, Dora Maar, and Man Ray used fragmentation, montage, unusual viewpoints, and various technical manipulations to expose the disjunctive and uncanny aspects of modern urban life.
Ilse Bing Eiffel Tower, 1934; Georges Hugnet Paris by Night, n.d; André Kertész Clock of the Académie Française, Paris, 1932
The show explains: ‘In the aftermath of World War I, Paris was a vibrant center of new technological and cultural developments as well as the home of thriving artistic movements. For the Surrealists and the photographers around them, the medium of photography provided an innovative tool that offered novel ways of presenting fresh perceptions of the world. A number of photographers turned their attention to the city itself, capturing essences of its seemingly ordinary yet colourful inhabitants, and of the places—such as dance halls and cafés—they frequented.
‘The work of Brassaï, Kertész, Germaine Krull, and others was published not only in Surrealist periodicals such as La Révolution Surréaliste and Documents but also in popular illustrated weeklies such as Vu and Voilà. These eclectic images, often accompanying stories about science, culture, and everyday news, helped disseminate the Surrealist vision to a larger audience.’
Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris continues at the International Center of Photography until May 09 2010.
International Center of Photography
Image credits first row left to right: Ilse Bing Danseuse-Cancan, Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1931, Gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in. © Ilse Bing Estate/Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery, NY; Voila, May 4, 1935, International Center of Photography; Hans Bellmer La Poupée (The Doll), 1934, Gelatin silver print 29 7/8 x 20 1/8 in. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris, Ubu Gallery, New York & Galerie Berinson, Berlin.
Image credits second row left to right: 2 Ilse Bing, Eiffel Tower, 1934, Gelatin silver print 8 3/4 x 11 in. © Estate of Ilse Bing/Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York Courtesy Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland; Georges Hugnet, Paris by Night, n.d. Hand-tinted collage on postcard 5 7/8 x 4 1/8 in. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Collection Timothy; André Kertész, Clock of the Académie Française, Paris, 1932, Gelatin silver print 9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.© Estate of André Kertész/Higher Pictures The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
