{"id":778620,"date":"2026-09-22T06:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T06:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778620\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T06:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T06:44:19","slug":"france-celebrates-the-bicentennial-of-photography-with-traveling-themed-exhibitions-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778620\/","title":{"rendered":"France Celebrates the Bicentennial of Photography with Traveling Themed Exhibitions \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our era of digital screens and virtually endless images and videos, it\u2019s a challenge to imagine the time before photography existed. Two centuries ago this year, French inventor Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce\u00a0successfully captured the first known permanent image. He called his new process h\u00e9liographie<\/a>, or \u201csun writing,\u201d employing light-sensitive bitumen dissolved in lavender oil, which he used to coat a polished pewter plate.<\/p>\n

After exposing the plate on his windowsill for several hours, an image of several outbuildings on Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s property emerged, and photography as we know it was born. But it wasn\u2019t until 1839, when Louis Jacques Mand\u00e9 Daguerre announced his eponymous Daguerrotype, that photography entered the public realm. From there, variations in the chemistry and materials proliferated around the world, spurring advanced technologies and the phenomenon we continue to enjoy today, even in a digital form that feels worlds away from the first iterations.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Fre\u0301de\u0301ric Boissonas, \u201cSc\u00e8ne de danse rythmique \u00e0 l\u2019institut Jacques Dalcroze, 6 filles dansant.\u201d \u00a9 GrandPalaisRmn (Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay)\/Herv\u00e9 Lewandowski<\/p>\n

Celebrating 200 years of photography in France, GrandPalaisRmn<\/a> has organized a series of 11 themed, traveling exhibitions as part of the ambitious initiative titled Grand Angle<\/a>. From 19th-century studio portraits and dance to rural life and the front lines of war, the shows highlight a wide range of subject matter and individuals behind the lens. The selections are drawn primarily from the vast archives of the GrandPalaisRmn and M\u00e9diath\u00e8que du patrimoine et de la photographie (MPP), which steward some 1.8 million digitized images altogether.<\/p>\n

The shows are also coordinated in partnership with Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Fisheye, and they\u2019re staged both around France and internationally. Ruralit\u00e9s, for example, just opened at the tourism office of Roubion, a small commune in southeastern France. And a solo exhibition of work by the late Willy Ronis<\/a> is on view this month at the Ch\u00e2tel-Saint-Germain library. The program is slated to continue through September 2027.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Stanley Greene, \u201cCamp de r\u00e9fugi\u00e9s de Sleptovsk-Sputnik, Ingouchie (Russie)\u201d (2001)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Jacques Piarrat, \u201cDanse 2.\u201d \u00a9 Paris Mus\u00e9es, Mus\u00e9e Carnavalet, courtesy of GrandPalaisRmn \/ Image Ville de Paris<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Hans Silvester, \u201cJean-Pierre Baigorry avec ses vaches attel\u00e9es, Sainte-Engr\u00e2ce (Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es-Atlantiques)\u201d (1979)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Atelier Nadar, \u201cSarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), com\u00e9dienne, \u00e0 ses d\u00e9buts\u201d (1864)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Willy Ronis, \u201cLes amoureux de la Bastille, Paris (4e arrondissement)\u201d (1957)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Jean-Pierre Favreau, \u201cEnfant regardant les vaches (Vend\u00e9e)\u201d (1996)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Willy Ronis, \u201cF\u00eate foraine, Paris\u201d (1947)<\/p>\n

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