Raoul Hausmann. Vision in Action

To this day, Raoul Hausmann’s photography has not had a dedicated museum exhibition in France.
As a photographer, Hausmann has long remained underrated and unheralded. However his key
position in 20^th century avant-garde photography has continually been re-evaluated and his importance is widely acknowledged these days.

We know Hausmann as the prominent artist of Dada Berlin, as the author of assemblages, collages,
lautgedichte, etc, yet the vicissitudes of history caused the obliteration of his photography, an essential facet of his œuvre. From 1927 onwards Hausmann became an avid and restless photographer. His photographic practice quickly became a cornerstone of his multi-faceted
reflections and activities, pushing him in a new direction which culminated in his forced departure from Ibiza in 1936.

Considering Hausmann’s clandestine crossing of the century, it is no surprise that his photographic œuvre was forgotten. Labelled a ‘degenerate‘ artist by the Nazis, he hastily left Germany in 1933. As an exile, Hausmann suffered the dispersion, and sometimes the destruction, of his work. His photography was seldom displayed and survived unnoticed until the late seventies. It was
long supposed to be lost, until an archive (now at the Berlinische Galerie) was almost miraculously discovered at his daughter’s home after her death.

Curator: Cécile Bargues.
Associate curator: David Barriet.

Coproduction Jeu de Paume, Paris / Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg.

With the collaboration of Musée départemental d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, Musée d’art
moderne and contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, Musée national d’art moderne / Centre Georges Pompidou, and private collections.

Medais partners: A Nous Paris, L’Obs, Connaissance des Arts, Paris Première and Radio Classique