Resonances I

The Jeu de Paume is inaugurating a new cycle of exhibitions which offers an innovative way of exploring the history of photography.
Drawing on the collections of the Médiathèque de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, “Résonances” will shed fresh new light on this remarkable ensemble by comparing it with works in “guest collections” around the world. The objective is to open up fresh perspectives in the history of photography and to show the genesis of photographers’ creative processes.

“Résonances I. Photographier après la guerre. France-Allemagne, 1945 – 1955” compares the collections of the Médiathèque de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine with those of the prestigious Museum Folkwang in Essen. Ute Eskildsen, curator of the photography department in Essen, and Marta Gili, director of the Jeu de Paume, will use these collections to carry out a comparative reading of the photographic work being done in France and Germany during the postwar decade. The show provides an opportunity to observe “two key European countries whose social, political and psychological convergences and divergences during the baleful postwar period are essential to an understanding of contemporary Europe.”