How American Photographers See Paris

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“Le Regard Américain,” a group exhibition featuring work by American photographers in Paris, opens September 9.

Photographers like Brassaï and Doisneau have given us their view of Paris. But do American photographers bring a different way of seeing the city? That’s the question at the heart of Le Regard Américain, a group exhibition bringing together American photographers who have lived and worked in Paris.

On Wednesday, September 9, Ithaque Gallery in the Marais will host an opening-night preview, with the public exhibition continuing through Friday, September 11.

Couples dance at the Trocadero (right), two people with red umbrellas hold hands. — photos by Peter Turnley (left) and Erica Lennard (right)

American photographers in Paris have a long tradition. In the 1920s and ’30s, a wave of Americans, drawn by cheap rent and a European avant-garde, turned Paris into an open-air studio. The city’s arcades, cafés, and backstreet ateliers became incubators for a modernist visual language that would travel home in exhibition catalogues and magazine spreads. Man Ray, an American who spent much of his career in Montparnasse, experimented with techniques such as rayographs and solarization that helped expand the possibilities of photography.

Le Regard Américain brings that tradition into the present. It’s a celebration of the American gaze on Paris: thirteen photographers, thirteen ways of seeing a city that can still surprise even those of us who think we know it.

A couples kisses in a Paris restaurant. — photo by Peter Turnley

Today’s American photographer-expats are a more varied crowd than their predecessors. The exhibition includes photojournalist Peter Turnley, fashion photographers Adrian Crispin and Erica Lennard, photographer and filmmaker Elizabeth Lennard, and street photographer Mark Steinmetz.

Ralph Gibson, who has photographed Paris for the past 50 years, provides a link to an earlier generation. He was the first photographer exhibited at Galerie Agathe Gaillard when it opened in 1975, the first Paris gallery devoted to photography. His book Salon Littéraire reflects his long connection with France, while Garrett Strang captures the kaleidoscope of Parisian life in Paris à Cœur Ouvert.

black and white street in Paris with image of carrots superimposed (left), two baguettes in a window sill — photos by Peggy Anderson (left) and Ralph Gibson (right)

For all the changes in equipment and technology since the 1920s, something about the appeal of Paris seems remarkably constant. American photographers, then and now, describe a city that rewards attention in a way few others do — where turning a corner reliably produces a compositional gift, where the architecture holds still long enough to be studied, where a habit of walking slowly with a camera is treated less as an eccentricity than as a reasonable way to spend an afternoon. There is an intellectual and creative freedom to be found in Paris.

People sit on a staircase leading to the Seine in Paris — photo by Bill O’Such

Other photographers in the exhibition approach the city from very different directions. Terri Weifenbach is known for her lyrical use of color, light and close observation, while William O’Such, Taylor Prinsen, Owen Franken and Alex Villaluz bring their own perspectives on place, people and the texture of contemporary Paris. Peggy Anderson and French-American student Gus Barden, the youngest artist in the show, explore experimental analog photography techniques.

The September 9 opening night is also a fundraiser for Democrats Abroad France, which works to encourage political participation and voter registration among Americans living overseas. Donated works by participating photographers will be offered in a silent auction that evening. Le Regard Américain is open to all, but participation in the fundraiser, including the opening-night event and silent auction, is restricted to eligible U.S. citizens due to fundraising laws.

Le Regard Américain
Ithaque Gallery
5 Rue de Haudriettes
75003 Paris

Paris wide view of Seine and Eiffel Tower — photo by Taylor Prinsen

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WRITTEN BY

Jeff Atlas

Jeff Atlas has a background in advertising as a creative director, president of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising San Francisco, and founder of his own agencies. He founded Involved Media that supports non-profits and he creates events to support worthy organizations. In Paris he consults on special events at the Musee de Montmartre and The American Library in Paris. He splits his time between San Francisco, Napa, and Paris.