Memories of the Jeu de Paume

We're at the northwest corner of the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, viewing posters for exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume, just out of the frame to the right, a museum that has become a temple of photography in Paris. (We're at the northeast corner of the Place de la Concorde.)

I mainly visited the exhibition of Laure Albin Guillot (1879-1962)--unfortunately the smaller of the two posters (but view it large). It was a superb show; you can see an excellent video on it here (with English subtitles). I confess I had not heard of her previously, but she was clearly a creative force in photography in Paris from the 1920's to the 1950's.

I first visited the Jeu de Paume (here's the history) in 1958, at age 18 when I spent 3 weeks in Paris, staying a couple of blocks down the Rue de Rivoli (in the background). From 1947 t0 1986 the musem displayed most of the impressionist and post-impressionist works which were moved after 1986 to the Musee d'Orsay. I visited it numerous times in 1958, and at my young age it was an utter revelation for me to see those marvelous paintings simply hung on two floors in large quadrangular galleries one after the other.

The building has since been elaborately restructured, and every time I go I shed a tear for its simpler past. But as the "new" Jeu de Paume it since has in fact become the most important venue for photography in Paris, and a worthy successor to its incarnation in the 1950's to 1970's. And as a photographer I do appreciate the many wonderful exhibitions I've seen there.