 | Between 1 - 30th of November 2006 Paris will be the host of the 14th edition of the famous exhibition "Mois de la Photo", dedicated to publicity photography in France, since the beginnings of this genre to the present. The organisers will try to redeem this genre, which blends art, merchandise and style, it's former distinction and to offer to the audience the story of an important part in the history of photography, seldom unjustly blamed and rejected. |
But Mois de la Photo will mean much more, as it will give the public the chance to rediscover the works and names of the masters of this genre, considered by many to be mere executants for big companies.
Since the last part of the 19th century photography began to be used more and more for publicity campaigns. Gradually, as the techniques evolved and the prices lowered, publicity photography became a genre, which not only brought money to the artists, but also offered them the chance to express themselves in a new context. The Golden Age of publicity photography began in the thirties, when publicity photos were very successful and in demand. Very often an interesting campaign sustained by beautiful and interesting photos managed to save a product or a company.
The exhibition is organised in a chronological fashion, the introduction being made by the great photographers that set the foundations of the genre, such as Francois Kollar or Emmanuel Sougez, Draeger and Deberny-Peignot, great masters of the art, who sp;ent thousands of hours in their studios in order to obtain that special photograph. After the war publicity photos slowly made their entry in the pages of newspapers, adapting to the increase of demand and mass production. After the colour photos became the medium of choice for photographers in the 60s, a new generation of artists emerged, such as Guy Bourdin, JeanLoup Sieff, Jean-Paul Goude si Serge Lutens. Some of the masters photographers became associated with important publicity campaigns. Among those was Jean-Claude Dewolf (who worked for Perrier and Monsavon) or Jean-Pierre Ronzel (who for more than three decades produces the photos for Porsche and Volkswagen campaigns. )
Nowadays publicity photography has reached a new level, combaining technique, perfectionism, new and dare, often in a shocking manner, but in perfect consonance to the busy and wild tempo of everyday life. Some of these new names, featured in the exhibition, are Jean-Marie Vives (who worked for Fondation Nicolas Hulot) and Dimitri Daniloff (who is responsabile for the success of the Playstation1 campaign).
October 2006
