"Gare du Nord" is the title of the exhibition currently on display at the Institut Néerlandais, in collaboration with the Musée de la photographie de La Haye, through July 29, 2012.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Paris has attracted photographers from all over the world, and the Dutch have often been at the forefront. The Gare du Nord (North Station) was the gateway to the city for the thirty-five photographers in this exhibition. We discover the artists who photographed Paris and its people, its changes, its customs, its cultural activities, its celebrities who were already famous and those who would go on to find fame: Brigitte Bardot, Christian Dior, Juliette Gréco, Orson Welles...
Then there are apprentice photographers who chose Paris to learn their trade by coming to study at Parisian academies or serving as assistants to renowned photographers like Man Ray and Bérénice Abbott.
The exhibition also features photographers—Emmy Andriesse, Maria Austria, Ed van der Elsken, Johan van der Keuken, Nico Jesse—who at one time worked and made a name for themselves in what some people call “The City of Light”.
This is how the 1950s saw the publication of important photography books that took Paris as their central subject, like Vrouwen van Paris (Édition Plon, 1954) by Nico Jesse (1911–1976), a doctor from Ameide who, over the course of ten days, photographed no less 2,000 women across the city: students, models, homeless...
We can see ambience of the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain des Prés through the eyes of Ed van der Elsken (1925–1990), in his fictional romance photo novel Ein liefdesgeschiedenis (Love on the Left Bank) published in 1956.
In addition to the photographs, l'Institut Néerlandais is projecting two digitally remastered experimental shorts, Études de mouvements à Paris (1927) by Joris Ivens and Les halles de Paris (1939) by Paul Schuitema.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

List of photographers in the exhibition
Aart Klein (1909-2001), Ad Windig (1912-1996)3, Ata Kando (1913)
Carel Blazer (1911-1980), Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975), Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990), Emiel van Moerkerken (1916-1995), Emmy Andriesse (1914-1953), Eva Besnyö (1910-2003), Fons Hellebrekers (1901-1994)
Francis Kramer (1878-1965, Fred Brommet (1924-2008, Gerard Fieret (1924-2009), Hans van Dordrecht (1936-1997), Hans Wolf (1909-1992)
Henri Berssenbrugge (1873-1959), Jacques Meijer (1934), Jan Coppens (1937-2000), Johan van der Keuken (1938-2001), Kees Molkenboer (1907-1987), Kees Scherer (1920-1993), Lies Wiegman (1927-2011), Lood van Bennekom (1905-1978), M. Hoogeweg (date inconnue), Marcel Minnee (1941), Maria Austria (1915-1975), Marjan Dirkzwager (1915-2000)
Meinard Woldringh (1915-1968), Nico Jesse (1911-1976), Paul Huf (1924-2002), Peter Odijk (1889-1963), Philip Mechanicus (1936-2005)
Sem Presser (1917-1986), Willem van de Poll (1895-1970), Wim van der Linden (1941-2001)

"Gare du Nord"
Photographes néerlandais à Paris 1900-1968.
From May 24th to July 29th, 2012
Institut Néerlandais
121 rue de Lille
75007 Paris