Orsay the photography gb - Tapa blanda

Photography is nowadays considered to be one of the most distinguished of the fine arts, and the Musee d'Orsay has done much to bring this about. Indeed, a photographic collection was planned for the museum ever since its creation in 1979. At the time such a decision was seen as a novelty in the French museum system, and it helped to encourage the beginnings of an art market in the domain. The collection, which was started from nothing, now comprises some 50 000 pieces of work, dated from 1839 to 1918. Although French photography is prevalent, work from abroad is extremely well represented through masterpieces from England and the United States. The authors present a historical record of the collections, and then go on to discuss the "primitif" approach in the 1850s and 60s, and then English and American photography pre 1880. They then look at the revolution in techniques which took place in the 1888s, and which made photography more available to all kinds of amateurs, writers, painters or sculptors. The last section concentrates on documentary photography which, until Atget and Man Ray's time, was greatly inspired by artistic photography. This elaborately illustrated and thorough publication provides one with an entire history of photography, and reveals the enormous range of the Musee d'Orsay's photographic collections, including its most recent acquisitions.

Francoise Heilbrun has been head curator of the Department of Photography since the museum was founded. She was also responsible, with Philippe Neagu, for setting up the collection and archive. She has curated many exhibitions at the Musee d'Orsay, most notably: Bonnard, 1987, L'Invention d'un regard, 1989 and Nadar, les annees creatrices, 1994, and she has published numerous catalogues. Quentin Bajac, curator for Photography at the Musee d'Orsay from 1995 to June 2003, is now at the Musee National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou. He is the author of numerous publications and has curated many exhibitions, including La Commune photographiee, 2000 and Le Daguerreotype Francais, 2002