In an image by Jacques Henri Lartigue, the nanny Dudu raises her eyes to the sky to follow the flight of a ball before it falls back to earth; weightlessness made visible by the photographic act. Meanwhile, in the work of the painter John M. Armleder, the representation of circular forms on canvas resulted in a minimalist and conceptual movement. In each case, rotundity and weightlessness manifest themselves. 

This resonance between the photograph and the painting is central to the Déclics Analogiques exhibition that has been conceived by Anna-Patricia Kahn and Catherine Issert. Ms. Kahn is a renowned gallerist and curator who is devoted to photography in all of its forms; Ms. Issert has run an acclaimed gallery devoted to contemporary art in Saint-Paul de Vence since 1975. Now, they are working together on this unique project that unearths sublime connections between photographs and paintings and then juxtaposes them to allow the observer to see the works of art in intriguing new ways.

The exhibition is inspired by two theories of art and perception. The Surrealist André Breton famously wrote that, “only the analogical click excites us” as he delved into the question of how humans use comparison and analogy to understand the world. Later, the filmmaker Robert Bresson observed, “An image must be transformed by contact with other images as is a color in contact with other colors… No art without transformation.”

Within this framework of perception, the works of renowned photographers such as Alvin Coburn, Philippe Halsman, Tomasz Lazar, and Eikoh Hosoe reverberate with new significance when they are compared with paintings by Jean-Charles Blais, Jean-Michel Alberola, or Minjung Kim. The profound beauty found in these juxtapositions is as much a question of resemblance as it is of counterpoint; as photography and contemporary painting developed, they mirrored each other, they transformed together, and they responded to each other. And it is this complicit dialogue between them that is utterly compelling.

The CLAIRbyKahn gallery is proud to represent the photographers and estates featured in this exhibition. You can discover more work by the photographers by visiting their artist pages: Jacques Henri Lartigue, Alvin Coburn, Philippe Halsman, Tomasz Lazar, Eikoh Hosoe.

Purchase inquiries regarding any of the photographs from the exhibition or from their broader collections are welcome via email at anna@clair.me

Exhibition

DÉCLICS ANALOGIQUES
An exhibition imagined by Anna Patricia Kahn and Catherine Issert
21 December 2019 to 15 February 2020
GALERIE CATHERINE ISSERT
2, route des Serres
06570 Saint-Paul de Vence

Vernissage on Saturday 21 December from 3pm to 8pm

Here see some images from the exhibition