Following a tour of Europe, the Maison Européene de la Photographie in Paris will present until April 7 a retrospective of the American photographer Joel Meyerowitz, who is celebrating his fiftieth year as a photographer. The exhibition features the black-and-white photographs that came before the color work with which made his name.

Joel Meyerowitz is a part of what Allan Porter called the “Second generation of color photographers,” in the July 1977 issue of Camera. It was the same year that Meyerowitz unveiled a famous and controversial exhibition at the Rencontres d’Arles, when I was artistic director. Other members of this generation included William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Neal Slavin, Art Sinsabaugh and Joel Sternfeld.

He took his first steps in photography in 1962, after Robert Frank encouraged him to roam the streets of New York with a 35mm camera and color film.

After a trip to Europe, his first major exhibition—there have been 350 since—was held at New York’s MoMA in 1968, featuring his black-and-white and color photography. In the 1970s he began to work exclusively in color. His first book, Cape Light, sold more than 100,000 copies, becoming an instant classic that helped establish his style and reputation. Since then, his photographs have been exhibited at major museums across the world and have been published in some eighteen books.

Working with both a 35mm camera and a Deardorff 20x25”, among the many subjects explored by Meyerowitz, special attention must be paid to his photographs of the World Trade Center. He was the only photographer authorized to shoot freely at Ground Zero, and he worked for nine months in the ruins of the World Trade Center. The more than 8000 photographs he took will be shown at the September 11 Memorial & Museum, which will open this year. They were the subject of 32 exhibitions organized by the U.S. State Department, which traveled to 200 cities and were visited by 3.5 million visitors across the world.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition :
Joel Meyerowitz, Une Rétrospective
From January 23rd to April 2013
Maison Européenne de la Photographie
5/7 rue de Fourcy
75004 Paris
France
T : +33 (0)1 44 78 75 00