Paris in November is the same routine every year: the fairs, the side exhibitions, a lot of baguette and cheese, and in between, a lot of walking.
We took the TGV from Stuttgart and went straight to the MEP for Irving Penn. The show follows his Vogue work from 1947 to 2008, from Paris couture for Dior and Balenciaga to his work with Issey Miyake. The prints were beautiful: silver gelatin, a few maybe gold-toned, and two or three that looked like lith prints to me. Or do I just see lith prints everywhere because I’ve been making them myself lately? Penn’s photos need no comment, but I love standing in front of the originals, especially the contact sheets: how many frames of the same pose, which negative did he choose in the end? And of course, not one badly exposed frame. Obviously.
Two more exhibitions stayed with me. Le Bal showed The Space Between Us, a collection of about 120 photographs from Michael and Jane Wilson, with Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Francesca Woodman among others. For the 200th anniversary of photography, it is the first time Le Bal has dedicated a show to a single collection. At La Galerie Rouge we saw a show on Paris Humaniste, the movement that shaped French post-war photography.
The fairs were the heart of the trip. Polycopies, the photobook fair, is on a boat on the Seine at Port de Solférino. We arrived just after opening, when it was still nicely empty, and had red wine up on deck. My favourite was an artist who makes tiny prints in matchboxes, with passepartouts: a mini exhibition for on the go. At Paris Photo in the Grand Palais, early-access tickets got us in at 10:30, hours before the general public at 1 pm. The theme was 200 years of photography, with real pieces from the 1820s. Simply incredible. I focus on black-and-white and went around with notebook and pencil, looking at technique, for example how to expose with the black borders included but leave a white border for the passepartout. C.-P. knows a lot about the old photographers and loves finding connections: who studied with whom, who influenced whom, which pictures talk to each other. Together we cover a lot of ground.
The evenings belonged to the vernissages. At the Silver exhibition we met Maximilian Zeitler and Axel Schneegass, and also Silvano and Monika from Poland, who was back again. We talked about a wetplate meeting in Poland that we would love to join. Akki was there too, and only now did I really understand what his art is about. We also ran into Michael, whom we photographed in Cologne. Small world. The next evening we went to Mark and Jacky’s vernissage in a really cool cultural centre. It was a group show by many artists, all working with Polaroids and instant film. I shot three films with the Holga, with flash.
Between all this, Paris did what Paris does. We bought our salted butter with crunchy salt crystals at Thomas Artisan Fromager, the best cheese shop in the city, as every year, and opened a bottle of wine on the hotel rooftop while it rained. Our room faced the back this time, so Paris also comes in quiet. On 11 November, a public holiday in France, we saw an endless procession with soldiers on horses and music. The horses had checks cut into the fur on their backsides. Frank Hurley’s picture of the ship in the ice was behind a closed door, until someone took pity and let us in. Opening hours in France seem to be more of a guideline.
Paris Tips
- MEP (5/7 rue de Fourcy, 4th): Penn’s Vogue fashion work, 1947–2008. Open Wed and Fri 11–20, Thu 11–22.
- Le Bal (6 impasse de la Défense, 18th): The Space Between Us. Wed 12–20, Thu–Sun 12–19, €10. The café is wonderful too.
- La Galerie Rouge (3 rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, 4th): Paris Humaniste. Wed–Sat 11–19.
- Polycopies (Port de Solférino, 7th): The book fair on the boat, 11–15 November. Go right at opening and take your wine on deck.
- Paris Photo (Grand Palais): Early-access tickets get you in from 10:30, everyone else from 1 pm.
- Thomas Artisan Fromager (13 rue Rambuteau, 3rd, and 20 rue Cadet, 9th): Salted butter, cheese and fig jam.
- h.a.n.d. (have a nice day): A good spot for a glass of wine and a break.
- InstantArt 2026 in Paris: Mark and Jacky’s vernissage, a group show of Polaroid and instant art in a cultural centre.
Medium format with Holga
