Gilles Caron Photographer LES YEUX DE L’HISTOIRE

Exhibition Proposal

• Concept

• Dates & Details of Tour

• Length of Exhibition

• Operational Costs

• Catalogue

• Contents

• Previous Exhibition History

• Organizational Body

• Curators

• Selected Images

Gilles Caron photographer: les yeux de l’histoire Gilles Caron (1939–1970) moved through the history of photography like a comet,

producing no fewer than 570 photo-stories in five short years of activity (1965–70), cut

short by his tragic death on the job in Cambodia, at age thirty. Henri Cartier Bresson

nicknamed Caron “the French Capa,” acknowledging his heroism by dubbing him with

this reference to the founder of modern photojournalism, Robert Capa. Today, Caron

is the best-known French photojournalist in history. As glamorous as his reputation

already is, it now merits additional attention in the light of growing art historical

interest in a school

of photography long

measured solely by the

yardstick of journalism.

For the first time since

Caron’s death, his entire

archives — held by the

Fondation Gilles Caron in

Geneva — can be studied,

thus permitting a thorough

re-evaluation of his work. The goal of this Caron retrospective is therefore to broaden our

understanding of the oeuvre of a major twentieth-century reporter by observing how he

managed to construct tangible depictions of history-in-the-making.

Some of Caron’s photos are more famous than the man himself, having become part

of the world’s collective memory: the shining eyes of student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit

during the Paris uprising in May 1968; the emblematic face of Moshe Dayan during the

Six-Day War in 1967; and the gazes of starving children during the 1968 war in Biafra. Yet

the “iconic images” that we recall were just part of more extensive series, many of which

remain unseen. Now the archives of the Fondation Gilles Carontogether with the valuable

collaboration of Madame Caron will offer us a better understanding of the approach taken

by this witness to the historic moment. The exhibition will thus feature, alongside Caron’s

most famous photo-stories, a veritable chronicle of everyday life in France in the 1960s.

Caron’s short career presents a fascinating yet

paradoxical picture: whereas he came across as someone

keen to see action, it was his refusal to go to war that

shaped his life. Drafted into the French army in 1959

at the height of the Algerian war, Caron refused to

fight. On returning to Paris, he enrolled in the École du

Louvre, became friendly with young artists, dreamed

of opening an art gallery, and set up a photo lab — an

early career far removed from our standard idea of

photojournalism. Given his background in art history,

Caron’s decision to devote all his energy to photography

made him an exemplary figure of his day. Coming

between Henri Cartier Bresson and James Nachtwey, he

was one of those people who have established a direct link between their artistic training

and the profession of photojournalist — a path that nourishes the fertile contradiction

between art and information.

The culture of photojournalism dates

back to the generation preceding Caron’s,

with the founding of the Magnum agency in

1947; but soon new organizations sprang up,

based on the principle of a photographer’s

independence. That is why Caron joined

Apis in 1965 and Gamma in 1967, where

he worked alongside Raymond Depardon,

who became a companion-in-arms. Life

then became a race as events succeeded one

another and Caron hastened everywhere,

from Chad to Vietnam. His deeds were

guided by courage and wiliness, while his

philosophy was shaped by his cultivation

and sensibility. Caron’s photographic

oeuvre grew at the pace of press coverage and

breaking stories, but beyond the success that

comes with being the first person on the scene

of an event, he also displayed an understanding

of—and, above all, a commitment to—the

world. This exhibition will help visitors to

grasp Caron’s photographs on two levels: for

their value as historical documentation and

their insight into a personal sensibility that

was unequalled at the time.

Today many reporters attempt to

nudge the status of journalist toward that

of artist; conversely, many contemporary

artists are interested in the aesthetic potential

of news imagery. The roots of this twenty-

first-century crossover can be found in the attitude and work of a photographer like

Gilles Caron.

Dates & Details of TourThe exhibition will be starting its worldwide tour in Europe in 2011 or 2012. We plan to

continue the exhibition in North America and Asia subsequent to its showing in Europe.

Length of ExhibitionUp to three months, depending upon scheduling requirements of participating museums

and the overall tour.

Operational CostsParticipation fee is available upon request. Museums will be expected to pay appropriate

transportation and insurance costs. Travel expenses and a modest per diem will be expected

for the curators to attend the opening and assist with installation.

CatalogueA comprehensive, high-quality catalogue will

be created by FEP Editions as the companion

to the exhibition. Foreign language editions

are planned for the major markets where the

exhibition will be shown.

The catalogue will be structured around

four complementary viewpoints on a corpus

of some two hundred photos: a monograph

analyzing the internal development of

Caron’s oeuvre (style, themes, relationship

to the history of photography, and approach

to press work); a study by a historian of

visual imagery on the role of photography

in the 1960s and the question of social and

historical representation; a study by a press

historian on the stakes behind contemporary journalism; and an interview/reminiscence

by Caron’s great friend and fellow photographer, Raymond Depardon. Also included is

critical apparatus such as biography, bibliography, and documents from the Fondation

Gilles Caron.

ContentsThe essence of the show will be approximately 200 framed prints, most of them vintage.

The majority of these have been selected from the Gilles Caron Foundation archive but

they will be supplemented by prints from museum collections. In some cases, modern

prints in differing formats will be used for didactic effect.

Previous Exhibition HistoryThere has never before been a major retrospective exhibition curated from the Gilles

Caron Foundation archive.

Organizational BodyThis exhibition will be co-produced and toured under the joint auspices of the American non-

profit organization, the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), Minneapolis/

Paris, and Fondation Gilles Caron. The web address for FEP is www.fep-paris.org.

CuratorsChief Curator, Michel Poivert, is a historian, critic, curator and the head of a major

private collection (Société Française de Photographie). With a degree from the École du

Louvre and a Ph.D. on the history of contemporary art from the Sorbonne, he is currently

a professor at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon–Sorbonne) as well as president of

the Société Française de Photographie and editor-in-chief of Études Photographiques. His

published research covers the origins of photography, the pictorialist period around 1900,

Surrealism, and contemporary photography.

Poivert is notably author of Le Pictorialisme en France (Höebecke/Bibliothèque

Nationale, 1992), Robert Demachy (Nathan/Coll. Photo-Poche, 1997) , La Photographie

Contemporaine (Flammarion, 2002), and L’image au Service de la Révolution (Le Point

du Jour Éditeurs, 2006). Most recently he co-edited, with André Gunthert, L’Art de la

Photographie, des Origines à Nos Jours (Citadelles et Mazenod, 2007).

He has also organized exhibitions such as Le Salon de photographie, le pictorialisme

en Europe et aux Etats-Unis (Musée Rodin, Paris, 1993), L’utopie photographique, 150 ans de

la Société française de photographie (Maison Européenne de la photographie, Paris, 2004),

La Région humaine (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, 2006) and L’Événement,

les images comme acteur de l’histoire (Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2007).

In terms of contemporary art, Poivert has written catalogues on many artist-

photographers, including Jean-Marc Bustamente, Valérie Jouve, and Valérie Belin. He is the

main contributor to the ViteVu blog, where he discusses contemporary creative photography.

Assisting Michel Poivert in his curatorial work will be Todd Brandow. Since 1997, he

has been living in Paris, working as a photography curator. He produced and co-curated

the highly successful Edward S. Curtis vintage exhibitions that were exhibited in Euro-

pean museums for a number of years, starting at the Hotel de Sully in 2000. US State

Department-sponsored modern print shows of Curtis’s work are currently touring Latin

America, Europe and now Asia. He has recently co-curated a retrospective tour of Finnish

photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen with critic A. D. Coleman, the exhibitions Edward

Steichen: Lives in Photography and Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Conde Nast Years 1923-

1937 together with William Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer of the Musee de l’Elysee.

Brandow is Director of the American non-profit organization, the Foundation for the

Exhibition of Photography (FEP), and President of FEP Editions LLC.

Selected Images