As in recent issues, the release of “Polka, photojournalism’s magazine” is accompanied by a series of exhibitions presented at the gallery of the same name. This Spring 2011 edition, the 12th, remains faithful to its editorial origins established in 2007, the year of its creation. Among the exhibitions presented, a personal selection by Marc Riboud entitled “Liberty, Equality, Femininity”.

The photographer is a regular at Polka, and has been featured both in the gallery and in issues 1, 4 and 7. Despite our insistent questioning, we still don’t know if the third word in the exhibition’s title refers to his wife Catherine Chaine who wrote the accompanying text and captions for the twenty pictures published and exposed, or if it referred to Editor-in-Chief Alain Genestar’s photographer-approved and overtly feminine selection. “Obvious signs of tenderness” can be seen across the women’s faces, reaching over continents, retracing or symbolizing 60 years of photography. Or perhaps, intentionally or not, a combination of both!

Pictures that have become icons, and others, lesser known, or for some, previously unreleased. In the first category, we find the illustrious picture of “the young girl with the flower” taken in Washington during the October, 1967 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. This color version of the otherwise notorious black and white print is lesser-known, but also adorns the cover of this recently released 12th issue of “Polka”. Marc Riboud explains that the color was an accident. After having depleted his stock of black and white film packed for the story, he was forced to rely on an emergency camera loaded with color film. That’s how we knew, he commented, that “the flower was pink, (rose in French), like the young girl’s name, Jane Rose Kasmir.”

Others are lesser-known or previously unreleased, like this statue “with feminine forms emphasized by the snow” taken in 1989 in the suburbs of East Berlin. Or Karlovy Vary (1962) where we see a couple following a cellist in this famous spa town of the former Czechoslovakia frequented by the nomenklatura. In reference to Catherine’s caption, Marc adds that “the man and woman following the cellist had just fallen in love, and if I look at them closely, I think I can see their rhythmic steps, joyous, affectionate, and I can hear their whispering words…” Tenderness (Calcutta, 1971), with this young mother who had escaped her native Bangladesh to give birth in a refugee camp. Or in “Clémence Asleep” (1992) where beauty overcomes handicap. Or, on the other hand, this series taken in 1976 Palermo of a mother dominated by her Mafioso sons or these nuns that seem like “walking tombs.”

Although not chosen by Marc, Catherine Chaine comments that “these pictures could never have been taken by anyone other than Marc, they tell as much as they show, evoking philosophy: they show without insisting, without overwhelming, without ever seeking to prove, with the light “touch” and nuance of a great pianist.”

Thank you Marc Riboud for generously providing La Lettre readers with a few previously unreleased pictures to illustrate this presentation!

Bernard Perrine

Until May 21
Polka Galerie
Cour de Venise
12, rue Saint-Gilles
75003, Paris