I once asked the French photographer Boubat if he was a romantic. He responded saying no “I’m a humanist. I’m interested in photographing people. There’s enough bad to be seen in the world. I like to photograph and show what is good.”
French Humanist Photographers were among the best at portraying poetic moments and showing what was good about life after WWII. Now a new book “The Lighter Side of Paris” (Paris qui rit!) brings together such photographers as Boubat, Doisneau and Kertesz, who not only captured the poetry of daily life but the funny moments too. This book features a collection of humorous pictures of Paris that bring a smile. The photographs include work by such stars as Henri Cartier Bresson and less known pictures by a very funny René Maltete as well as many remarkable anonymous photographers. Although most of the photos date from the post WWII period, several were taken in the 20’s and 30’s with a few capturing drole moments in the Belle Epoque. Continue reading “The Lighter Side of Paris”
Q I met my French boyfriend in the US, and we had a passionate relationship there for one year. Then, as the government wouldn’t renew his visa, he returned to France, and I moved here 18 months ago so that we could be together. I am really unhappy and homesick, and now blame my boyfriend for not doing enough to help me. All his friends are French. I don’t speak the language, and I can’t find work; he yells at me when I complain about France…. I love him but can’t decide to what extent the relationship is worth this big sacrifice I’m making. 
“The Place We Live” at Paris Jeu de Paume is a retrospective of Robert Adams’ photography (until May 18, 2014). This exhibition, which has already been seen in several North American venues such as the Vancouver Art Gallery and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is based on work purchased by The Yale Art Gallery (1,465 master prints) in 2005. 
One of the world’s most influential photographers is featured with a retrospective at Paris’ Centre Georges Pompidou. Henri Cartier-Bresson, (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) considered by many to be the father of photojournalism, blended a remarkable sense of design with the ability to capture the significance of an instant… the decisive moment. 
The most dazzling ornaments aren’t found in any Paris department store this year, instead you will need to head over to the newest exhibition to open at the Grand Palais, “Cartier: Style and History.” Conceived as a history of decorative arts, this show of breathless baubles tells not only the story of Cartier but also retraces the evolution of tastes, aesthetics and diversity of cultures within the jewelry industry as told through precious stones and metals. 
Every so often back in the ’30s, dark stretches of nighttime Paris would be lit by a sulfurous flash. Brassai was at work, taking pictures in which conventional beauty held little appeal. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, he was a well-born, highly trained visual artist who found inspiration in the down and dirty. Parisians will now have a chance to see these mythic photos with the exhibition “Brassai, pour l’Amour de Paris” at the Hotel de Ville. 
The Galerie Maria Lund is showing Swedish photographer Helene Schmitz’s “Kudzu Project,” a visual mediation on nature and the impermanence of things. The mostly black and white photographs are a poetic melange of documentation and art—at once beautiful and yet subtly terrifying like a David Lynch film. 
A retrospective exhibition of work by the enigmatic Chilean photographer Sergio Larrain, curated by Agnès Sire, was one of the highlights of last summer’s Rencontres d’Arles photo festival. Now Parisians have an opportunity to see photos by this remarkable but little-known photographer with an exhibition (Vagabondages) at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson 
