Two exhibitions
dal 20/1/2012 al 2/3/2012
Segnalato da
20/1/2012
Two exhibitions
Polka Galerie, Paris
The photographs of Raymond Cauchetier: aside from his famous pictures, the gallery presents 'Movie set reporter', his works from Indochina, Saigon and Angkor. 'Mountains & Waters' is a series of large-scale diptychs by Alexander Gronsky which represent the Chinese landscape.
Raymond Cauchetier
Movie set reporter
Raymond’s photographs are themselves, central works of the French New Wave.“ (Richard Brody, in Aperture Magazine #197, 2009)
Raymond Cauchetier (Paris, 1920), fundamental photographer of the new wave, was also a great reporter during the Indochina war. At the end of the war, Raymond Cauchetier stayed in Cambodia and met Marcel Camus, who invited him to follow the filming of his movie, produced in Cambodia. This chance encounter with the 7th Art is the beginning of a prestigious career as a set photographer.
During more than ten years, Raymond Cauchetier worked with the greatest moviemakers of the new wave: Melville, Truffaud, Godard, Tavernier and Chabrol. His eye and talent seduced all of them. On sets, Raymond Cauchetier works as a reporter and follows his instinct. A revolution in the world of set photography: with Raymond Cauchetier, it becomes alive.
Raymond Cauchetier is the author of the famous shot of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg walking down the Champs-Elysées during the making of “A bout de souffle”. He remembers: “what works for movies might not for photography. So, for this photograph, I took the actors down the avenue and had them re-enact the scene. This was a first; only the professionals know that this photograph was not taken during the movie”. He adds: “When I understood that I was witnessing a cinematographic revolution, I decided to cover it.”
Polka Galerie exhibits for the first time in France the photographs of Raymond Cauchetier. Aside from his famous pictures, the gallery presents his works from Indochina, Saigon and Angkor. Two universes closely linked, since one allowed the other to emerge.
Raymond Cauchetier embodied the new wave; the 2012 Academy Awards will pay tribute to him in Los Angeles.
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Alexander Gronsky
Mountains & Waters
Alexander Gronsky (Tallin, Estonia, 1980) dedicates his photographic work to landscapes.
For “Mountains & Waters”, he went to the edges of Shanghai, Chongqing or Shenzhen, these Chinese megalopolis where the agitation creates an almost chaotic disorder.
“Mountains & Waters” is a series of large-scale diptychs: with an aesthetic close to the Düsserdorf School, Alexander Gronsky adds a Chinese conception of the landscape, more intellectual than descriptive. The diptych enlarges the field of vision and stays faithful to the duality of the Chinese mind: In chinese, the association of the ideograms “Montain” and “Water” form in chinese the word “landscape”.
“Mountains & Waters” is the latest work of Alexander Gronsky. His previous series, “The Edge” was awarded by, among others, the Aperture Portfolio Price 2009 and Foam Paul Huf 2010. “Mountains and Waters” has already won the Photo-Levallois Price in 2011.
Alexander Gronsky lives in Moscow.
Image: Alexander Gronsky. Untitled, Chine, 2011
Opening: January 21, 2012, 11 am
Polka Galerie
12 rue Saint Gilles, 75003 Paris
Opening hours: Tue-Sat 11 am - 7.30 pm