Paris Métro Photo
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Les Portes de la nuit de Marcel Carné (1946), Raymond Voinquel(C) Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Raymond Voinquel
A chronological history of photography through the story of the Métro, one of the symbols of Parisian identity.
From the opening of the first metro line in 1900 to the present day, amateur and professional photographers have revealed the aesthetic possibilities of this mode of transport that revolutionised the urban environment: urban transport defined the city at ground level, while life gradually took hold under the city.
The first photographs are merely official commissions, reports on the construction of the network’s lines and photographic inventories for heritage purposes. The modernisation and portability of photo cameras brought new approaches and the revealed this space as a photographic subject in itself: the architecture, artworks, decoration and passengers are all themes seen through the photographers’ lenses.
The Métropolitain and photography have a parallel history over more than a century, anthologised in an art book published by Actes Sud.
Paris.Métro.Photo - Julien Faure-Conorton, Actes Sud publications
