“The idea of this exhibition, organized in the context of the second edition of Little Paradis, was to bring together worked that evoked the café culture, like friends in conversation at the bar.

The anonymous photographers, who bring a vision of the café as a hangout for lost souls (“Bière de l’esperance”, vers 1900) or as a temple of the revered drink, Hollywood style (“Ben Hur Coffee, towards 1970), are presented along with the elite of the Café society captured by Larry Fink or Lisette Model, Weegee’s New York drunks, or the thinking Cocteau by Gisèle Freund. Before becoming a home to this elite, these jetsetters before the jet set, the café was a family place where one would announce engagements, celebrate marriages or births, or where one would come to drown the sorrows of separation or life’s hardships.

This little selection is a celebration of the spirit of this place where people gather together, talk, tell stories, create ties, sometimes kiss and often smile. These meeting places, where everyone is equal, where the craziest dreams are built or destroyed, where everything is possible. It is also the place where we say “cheers”.

To your health!”

Christophe Lunn

Café Society

Through June 7
Le Scherkhan
66, rue d’Hauteville
75 010 Paris