stephen shames a retrospective - maison doisneau 2018 to _____ stephen shames a retrospective...
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Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau 1, rue de la Division du Général Leclerc 94250 Gentilly, France
PRESS KIT
Olivier Bourgoin agence révélateur +33 (0)6 63 77 93 68 [email protected]
Robert Pareja Maison Doisneau +33 (0)1 55 01 04 85
CONTACTS
www.maisondoisneau.agglo-valdebievre.fr
The Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
is an establishment of the Public Territorial Grand-
Orly Seine Bièvre
Stephen Shames
A retrospective from october 11th
to january 14th 2018
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Stephen Shames
A retrospective
EXHIBITION FROM OCTOBER 11TH
T O JANUARY 14TH 2018 AT THE
MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
ROBERT DOISNEAU, GENTILLY
EXPOSITION CO-PRODUCED BY LE
MUSÉE N I CÉPHO RE N I ÉPCE ,
CHALON-SUR-SAONE, THE FESTIVAL
PORTRAIT(S), VICHY, LA MAISON DE
L A PHOTOGRAPHIE ROBERT
DOISNEAU, GENTILLY, LA CHAMBRE,
STRASBOURG IN COOPERATION WITH
THE STEVEN KASHER GALLERY, NEW
YORK
_____________________________
OPENING EXHIBITION
TUESDAY OCTOBER 11TH 2017 AT 6:30 PM
THE MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE ROBERT DOISNEAU IS MEMBER OF
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Stephen Shames
A retropective
For the first time in Europe, the
American photographer Stephen
Shames is presenting an exhibition of
original prints and archival materials
that retrace his investigation into
1960s-70s America. His photos of the
day-to-day life of gangs in the Bronx
and the radical black liberation
movement the Black Panthers are
much more than a documentary
illustration of a given period in time:
they represent an insider’s view, one
which paints the portrait of the
contrasts in American society.
In the 1960s, America discovered the
flipside of prosperity. Not everybody
reaped its rewards and countless
people were left by the wayside. In
the role of both an observer and a
participant, Stephen Shames looked
behind the façade of the American
Dream and, rather like a seismograph,
recorded the tectonic movements of a
society shaken to its very foundations.
Patiently and persistently taking stock
of the situation, he spent seven years
spent following the Black Panther
Party and twenty years covering the
turmoil and daily violence in the
Bronx and Brooklyn recording even
the slightest traces illustrating
people’s resistance to oppression in
all its forms.
With his understated photographic
style that keeps the stifling epic
sp iri t a t bay, Stephen Shames
certainly deserves a place at the
forefront of documentary photography.
The truth of real life is permanently
confiscated and masked by censorship,
a spectacular approach or an intellectual
conception of the photographic medium.
That’s why the young Berkeley student
could see no other alternative than to
adopt a certain form of photography
in which he would be unforgiving
with lies and benevolent towards
ordinary people and victims.
Having purchased his first camera in
August 1967 and feeling he was more
of an activist than a party member, he
decided to use photography as a form
of political commitment. The Black
Panthers’ struggle would be his first
battle.
It was probably Shames’ friendship
with Bobby Seale that we have to
thank for a body of work that stands
out for its uniqueness and freedom
of tone. The Black Panther Party
founder presented Stephen Shames
to the movement’s main leaders.
From then on, the photographer
would be a constant companion of
Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver, June
and David Hilliard and Huey Newton.
This proximity not only provided
him with permanent access every
level of the organisation, it also
FROM OCTOBER 11TH
TO JANUARY 14TH 2018
Curators :
François Cheval, Audrey Hoareau - The Red Eye
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gave him the keys to understanding
the movement. For seven years he
contributed to the struggle, recounting
the doings of the key players in the
American revolutionary avant-garde.
A world opened out before him. The
photographer saw first hand the nitty
-gritty of the Afro-American minority’s
day-to-day life, its appalling living
conditions and widespread racism
bolstered by institutional discrimination.
Stephen Shames’ photos show a
country that is the antithesis of ‘the
pioneer’s ideal’. America is a nation
that loves to present itself as a
country where there is no inequality
and yet Shames’ photos tell the
stories of a multitude of similar
lives, of drastic situations made
appallingly banal by repetition.
Stephen Shames is loath to stage his
images. He is only trying, through
these raw, unstaged situations, to
celebrate African American beauty
and to exalt the dignity of other
communities who have also been
denied their fair share. ‘Power to the
People’, ‘Bronx boys’ and ‘Outside
the dream’ series give pride of place
to men in movement. What we see is
no more, no less than men in action.
They are a thought in act ion,
marching in the streets for some and
defending their territory for others, in
search of another reality rather than
just trying to survive.
You can see people’s passion, their
taste for things that bring them
closer together, the spirit of revolt
that perdures and how the
photographer has merged with his
subjects with such force. The three
series radiate a beauty that is deeply
imprinted on the spectato r’s
memory: the dignity of the Black
Panthers, the dramatic situation of
poor children and teenagers in
prison, etc.
Thanks to the stubborn generosity of
some photographers, Stephen Shames
included, it is still permissible to
think that photography can help us
to attain this rare feeling of attentive
solemnity.
From a François Cheval text
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Stephen Shames
Collection « Carnet » of the Maison
de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
texts : François Cheval
60 pages
English — French
On sale only at the Maison Doisneau : 5 €
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Black Panther Party, Chicago,1970 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery George Jackson’s funeral, Oakland, august 28, 1971 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
“Panthers on Parade”, Oakland, july 28, 1968 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Black Panthers ’s office, Chicago,1970 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
A boy salutes the Panthers New Haven, may 1, 1970 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
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These images may be used copyright free by
the press for the sole purpose of promoting
the exhibition at the Maison de la Photographie
Robert Doisneau and only during the duration
of the latter.
Bronx Boys, The Bronx, New York, 1977 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Bronx Boys, The Bronx, New York, 1991 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Juveniles in Jail, Worland, 1984 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Outside the Dream, Cincinnati, 1985 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Outside the Dream, Ventura, 1985 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Bronx Boys, The Bronx, New York, 1987 © Stephen Shames / courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
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