Paris,City of Lights,City of Color

Earlier on, we had seen the long line snake around the block that is Hotel de Ville and wondered what it was about. A friend then told us that it was the line to enter the exhibition Paris en Couleurs and that she had waited close to an hour before being able to go in. I realized then it would be best viewed in the middle of the week when presumably all the of the world had more serious things to do. So one drizzly lunch hour I made my way to Hotel de Ville in order to view the exhibition.
Paris en Couleurs (which is ongoing until 31st of March) is organized in chronological order starting from the early 1900s when color photography was first created by the Lumiere brothers until the present. It is a truly impressive and varied collection, and it is laudable that all lesser names in photography are present as well as the great names. The photos themselves are largely of Paris in all its varying moods and the minutiae of daily life. Through these photos the viewer is provided a rare glimpse of daily life at the turn of the century Paris, even photos of Paris as a simple village and we have glimpses of familiar streets in their earliest days. There is nothing stylized in these photos. One example, a photo of Rue St. Honore taken by Stephane Passet which shows it as a regular street full of simple cafes, boulangeries and even a charcuterie store. No fancy big name stores yet at that time. Other photos show the different commerce of those times with the shoemakers standing cheek to jowl with the wine sellers. Familiar sights and streets take on a different aspect with these photos. And because the period covered by the exhibition includes the war years, there are moving photos of Paris before, during and after the war. To see the Rue de Rivoli covered with the Nazi flags bring a lump to the throat while there is a palpable air of joy in the photos taken just after the Liberation.

An interesting set of photos are those taken in the beginning of the 50’s all the way till the 70s. It was during this time that the developments of photography were put to good use in fashion and advertising. Present in this collection are colored photographs taken by Robert Doisneau which advertised all manner of things and places. And the city took on a new role; that of a setting for some of the most innovative designs of the day. Robert Capa, William Klein and again Robert Doisneau all captured Dior models with the New Look fashion along the environs of Paris for leading publications of the day, Vogue being one of them.

For me, what truly sets this collection apart is the luminosity that bathes every photo, especially those of the earliest years. Perhaps because color photography was all new at that time, these photos of Paris are imbued with a kind of freshness and light that is different from the photos of today that have been airbrushed and photoshopped to perfection. For this lover of the City of Lights, this exhibition affirms its status as one of the most beautiful cities of the world.