Exhibitions / Voici Paris, Modernités photographiques 1920–1950
Voici Paris, Modernités photographiques 1920–1950
Centre Pompidou
17 October 2012 – 14 January 2013
Paris was at the heart of Roger Schall's work. In Voici Paris, his photographs were presented alongside those of the photographers who shaped the city's extraordinary creative energy between the 1920s and 1950s.
Presented at the Centre Pompidou from October 2012 to January 2013, Voici Paris: Photographic Modernities, 1920–1950 marked the Museum's acquisition of the Christian Bouqueret Collection. Bringing together more than 7,000 vintage prints by over 120 photographers, the exhibition offered a comprehensive overview of photographic modernity in Paris between the 1920s and 1950s. Among this landmark acquisition were 225 vintage prints by Roger Schall, making his work one of the most significant bodies represented within the collection.
Rather than focusing solely on the best-known names of the period, the exhibition explored the richness and diversity of Parisian photography by presenting both celebrated figures and photographers whose contributions had been comparatively overlooked. Displayed alongside artists such as Man Ray, André Kertész, Dora Maar and Brassaï, Roger Schall's photographs contributed to a broader understanding of photographic modernity in France.
For Roger Schall, the exhibition represented an important step in the institutional recognition of his work. The acquisition of 225 photographs by the Centre Pompidou permanently integrated his oeuvre into the Museum's photography collection, affirming his place within the history of twentieth-century French photography.