EVE SONNEMAN An Important Show

“Participating in the show Ils se disent

peintres, ils se disent photographes was profoundly significant with respect to my career. Not only did it coincide with my participation in the Paris Biennale, but ARC show curator Michel Nuridsany wrote a glowing article about my photographs in Le Figaro, Mercredi, 23 January, 1980, including a reproduction of my work, Grapes,

New York, 1979. […] No doubt my early warm reception at ARC/Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Paris Biennale, was instrumental in being invited back to Paris time and time again, with one-person shows at Centre GeorgesPompidou, Paris in 1984, la Géode-Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, Paris, 1995, and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 1999. Outside of Paris have been graced with shows at the Nouveau Musée, Lyon, in 1980, the Musée de Toulon in 1983, and the Biennale of Paris at Strasbourg.”

TOM DRAHOS A New Photography “It was indeed one of the most important exhibitions in the last 40 years. Michel Nuridsany opened the door to a new photography in France, that of the fine art photographer. This exhibition brought to the forefront and highlighted the creativity of contemporary photography—comparable to the experimenters, artists and photographers of the 1920s and 1930s. At the time of the exhibition Ils se disent peintres, ils se disent photographes, this fine art photography was rare. Today it’s everywhere, in galleries and museums, and is presented as an essential product of social and cultural consumption. Michel Nuridsany has won his bet.”

Translation: Chloé Baker

JEAN LE GAC Neither Photographer nor Writer

“I don’t remember the exhibition Ils se disent peintres, ils se disent

photographes except for its title, which marked a new and therefore important approach. For me photography, because you have to go on site, took me out of the studio, where I was bored. Everything was in the camera, in the head, everything was there to be reviewed, available outside, without too much fatigue, and new for those who wanted to make an artist’s character exist. I was the reporter and the subject, the one ignorant of the other. I was neither photographer nor writer.”

Translation: Chloé Baker

Page de gauche / left : Tom Drahos.

« Métamorphoses ». 1980. Photographies argentiques / gelatin silver prints. 30 x 30 cm chaque / each. (Court. l’artiste). Ci-dessus / above : Jean Le Gac. « Le peintre au

pull-over illustré ». 1980. Panneau avec 8 C-prints et 1 tirage argentique / 8 C-prints

and 1 gelatin silver print. 121 x 207 cm. (Coll. IAC, Villeurbanne / Rhône-Alpes, n° inv. :

83.106 ; Ph. André Morain)