Exhibition: ‘Laure Albin Guillot: The Question of Classicism’ at Jeu de Paume, Paris

Exhibition dates: 26th February – 12th May 2013

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The ravishing sensuality of the nudes make all the hours spent assembling this blog worthwhile!

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Many thankx to Jue de Paume for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

*PLEASE NOTE THIS POSTING CONTAINS ART PHOTOGRAPHS OF MALE AND FEMALE NUDITY- IF YOU DO NOT LIKE PLEASE DO NOT LOOK, FAIR WARNING HAS BEEN GIVEN*

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Laure Albin Guillot
Estampe pour F. Marquis chocolatier-confiseur, Paris [Print for F. Marquis chocolate maker, Paris]
sans date (without date)
Collection particulière, Paris

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Laure Albin Guillot
Étude publicitaire [Advertising study]
sans date (without date)
Collection Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Ville de Chalon-sur-Saône

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Laure Albin Guillot
Les tierces alternées, illustration pour les Préludes de Claude Debussy [The third alternative, illustration for Claude Debussy Preludes]
1948
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Publicité pour la pommade-vaccin Salantale [Advertisement for Salantale ointment vaccine]
1942
Bibliothèque nationale de France

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Laure Albin Guillot
Micrographie
1929
Collection particulière, Paris
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Micrographie, bourgeon de Frêne (coupe)
1930
Collection Société française de photographie
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Micrographie
1929
Collections Roger-Viollet / Parisienne de Photographie
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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“Laure Albin Guillot (Paris, 1879-1962), a “resounding name that should become famous”, one could read just after World War II. Indeed, the French photographic scene in the middle of the century was particularly marked by the signature and aura of this artist, who during her lifetime was certainly the most exhibited and recognized, not only for her talent and virtuosity but also for her professional engagement.

Organised in four parts, the exhibition, Laure Albin Guillot: The Question of Classicism allows one to discover her art of portraiture and the nude, her active role in the advertising world, her printed work and, at last, a significant gathering of her “micrographies décoratives”, stupefying photographs of microscopic preparations that made her renown in 1931. The exhibition presented at the Jeu de Paume gathers a significant collection of 200 original prints and books by Laure Albin Guillot, as well as magazines and documents of the period from public and private collections, such as the Parisienne de Photographie, the Musée National d’Art Moderne, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône) and the Musée Français de la Photographie (Bièvres).

A large number of the original prints and documents on show come from the collections of the Agence Roger-Viollet, which acquired Laure Albin Guillot’s studio stock in 1964. This archive, which now belongs to the City of Paris, recently became accessible after a long inventory process. Made up of 52,000 negatives and 20,000 prints, this source has made it possible to question the œuvre and the place that the photographer really occupies in history. The photographer’s work could appear as a counter-current to the French artistic scene of the 1920s to 40s, whose modernity and avant-garde production attract our attention and appeal to current tastes. It is however this photography, incarnating classicism and a certain “French style” that was widely celebrated at the time.

If Laure Albin Guillot’s photography was undeniably in vogue between the wars, her personality remains an enigma. Paradoxically, very little research has been carried out into the work and career of this artist. Her first works were seen in the salons and publications of the early 1920s, but it was essentially during the 1930s and 40s that Laure Albin Guillot, artist, professional and institutional figure, dominated the photographic arena. As an independent photographer, she practised several genres, including portraiture, the nude, landscape, still life and, to a lesser degree, documentary photography. Technically unrivalled, she raised the practice to a certain elitism. A photographer of her epoch, she used the new means of distribution of the image to provide illustrations and advertising images for the press and publishing industry.

She was notably one of the first in France to consider the decorative use of photography through her formal research into the infinitely tiny. With photomicrography, which she renamed “micrographie”, Laure Albin Guillot thus offfered new creative perspectives in the combination of art and science. Finally, as member of the Société des artistes décorateurs, the Société Française de Photographie, director of photographic archives for the Direction générale des Beaux-Arts (forerunner of the Ministry of Culture) and first curator of the Cinémathèque nationale, president of the Union Féminine des Carrières Libérales, she emerges as one of the most active personalities and most aware of the photographic and cultural stakes of the period.”

Press release from the Jeu de Paume website

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Laure Albin Guillot
Illustration pour ‘Le Narcisse’ de Paul Valéry
1936
Collection particulière, Paris
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Lucienne Boyer
1935
Collections Roger-Viollet / Parisienne de Photographie
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Autoportrait
1935
Collection Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Ville de Chalon-sur-Saône
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Jean Cocteau
1939
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Hubert de Givenchy
1948
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Étude de nu
1930s
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Étude de nu
1939
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Étude de nu
1939
Bibliothèque nationale de France.
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Nudite de Jeune Femme [Nude of a Young Woman]
c. 1950
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Étude de nu
1935
Collections Roger-Viollet / Parisienne de Photographie
© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet

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Laure Albin Guillot
Sans titre [women with crossed legs on a plinth]
1937
Collection musée Nicéphore Niépce, Ville de Chalon-sur-Saône

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Jeu de Paume
1, Place de la Concorde
75008 Paris
métro Concorde
T: 01 47 03 12 50

Opening hours:
Tuesday: 12.00 – 21.00
Wednesday – Friday: 12.00 – 19.00
Saturday and Sunday: 10.00 – 19.00
Closed Monday

Jeu de Paume website

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