A TRIBUTE TO THE ENDURING POWER OF BLACK AND WHITE
Photographic show at M+ is a collaboration that brings together 280 photos taken from 1915 to 2019
For the French National Library (Bibliothèque nationale de France, or BnF), acquiring a now-coveted print of Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, United
States – the uncanny 1966 photograph by American photographer Diane Arbus of two young sisters, whose individuality shines through despite their severe uniforms – was actually the result of a missed opportunity.
The year was 1969, and French curator Jean-Claude Lemagny was just settling into his role as the first person appointed to oversee the library’s contemporary photography collection.
“French National Library is a very old depository of photographs – we have photographs [from] 1851,” says Flora Triebel, curator of 19th-century photographs at BnF. “In a way, the story of our collection is totally linked with the story of photography. We developed our collection [as] photography was developing.”
In the 19th century and first half of the 20th, its collection of photographic works was essentially French, Triebel says. Hoping to diversify it and give it international scope, Lemagny planned a networking trip to New York.
But his meeting with Arbus never materialised, Triebel says.
“When [Lemagny] came back to Paris, he found a letter from her saying, ‘I’m so sorry, it was a bad time, and we didn’t manage to meet. Could I sell to French National Library a few of my photographs?’”
Today, this group of 20 prints has become one of the most prized parts of BnF’s photography collection, and two of the bestknown works – and
New Jersey, United States (1963, printed 1969) – can be seen in Hong Kong as part of the BnF’s collaboration with the M+ museum of visual culture.
The two institutions, together with the French May Arts Festival, are presenting “Noir & Blanc – A Story of Photography”, which marks M+’s first exhibition dedicated to the medium, and the first major exhibition of BnF’s photography collection in Asia.
With works spanning 1915 to 2019, the exhibition features 280 black-and-white photographs: 250 are from BnF, by acclaimed photographers such as Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mario Giacomelli and Robert Frank; and 30 are from the M+ collection, by Asian pioneers and contemporary figures like Chang Chao-tang, Fan Ho and Lang Jingshan.
For Triebel, part of the reason BnF chose to curate an exhibition centred around black-and-white photography – which was first conceived for the Grand Palais in Paris – is because of the medium’s “enduring power”, and its role in the history of photography.
Pauline Yao, the lead curator of visual art at M+, says there’s an additional artistic dimension to black-and-white photography because of the printing process.
“It is a medium that has been more hands-on,” she says. “There is a handcrafted nature to it that … is unique among the medium, because people who are working in it are close to that process of making the print.”
The ability of black-and-white photography to transcend time also provided a strong foundation for the powerful exhibition.
“You have, side by side in the exhibition, sometimes prints that have 20, 30 years of distance, and you don’t have [that] impression,” Triebel says.
“Noir & Blanc” is split into
three thematic sections, all of which highlight aesthetic elements of black-and-white photography. The first, “Aiming for Contrast”, focuses on the two opposing values of black and white, of light and dark.
Notable photographs in this section include Arbus’s works, both photographs that look ordinary upon first glance but come across as increasingly unsettling after one notices the incongruence between the twins’ and triplets’ alikeness and their distinct facial expressions.
Other images in this section include Hong Kong photographer Yau Leung’s Two Women
(Gloucester Road) (1961), who wear contrasting cheongsams, and US photographer Imogen Cunningham’s Two Callas (1925, printed ca 1970), a sharp image that offers a feeling of sensuality.
“Contrast is what creates a really powerful image,” Yao says. “You have to remind yourself, if you are seeing this in colour, it would not have the same effect.”
The second section, “Light and Shadow”, focuses on how light is used to express varying moods and illuminate different textures.
One such example is Cleaning Woman Working the Night Shift at City Services Building, New York (1945, printed ca 1960) by American photographer Weegee (Arthur Fellig), born in 1899 in what was then Austria-Hungary.
It’s a medium that has been more hands-on. There is a handcrafted nature to it PAULINE YAO, LEAD CURATOR AT M+
“You look at it, and it just looks like a black photo with a tiny, white figure, but when you really use your eyes to get the right angle, you can see the detail of the floor come up,” Yao says.
Also in this section is Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Place de
l’Europe, Paris, France (1932, printed ca 1950) by Henri CartierBresson. The image features a man leaping above the water and his reflection, just before his foot breaks the surface.
Hong Kong photographer Fan Ho’s Approaching Shadow (1954), for which the diagonal shadow was added in the darkroom, is also featured, as are nine works by American photographer Man Ray. Electricity – Nine Rayogrammes for Parisian Electricity Distribution
Company (1931) is a commercial showcase – one that is rarely collectively exhibited today – of Ray’s signature experimental style.
The final section of “Noir & Blanc”, titled “Colour Chart”, shows the tonalities and gradation of light from white to black. Pepper, No. 30 (1929, printed 1971), one of US photographer Edward Weston’s most notable still lifes, sees the dimensionality of a green pepper and tones highlighted by a light from above.
“Noir & Blanc – A Story of Photography”, Main Hall Gallery, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive, Kowloon, TueThurs and weekends, 10am-6pm, Fri 10am-10pm. Until July 1. Tickets can be bought on the M+ website.