Museum: photographs by Nicolas Krief
- Exhibition - sale from October 23 to November 16, 2024
- Book signing of Musée by Nicolas Krief and Stéphane Guégan, on Wednesday October 30, 2024 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the gallery, as part of the evening opening of galleries participating in the Photo Saint Germain festival
Factum Arte Workshops (Madrid, Spain). Test for a facsimile of Caravaggio's painting Le Martyre de saint Matthieu, produced in collaboration with the Municipality of Caravaggio. © Nicolas Krief
The exhibition
On the occasion of the publication of the book Musée, photographs by Nicolas Krief and texts by Stéphane Guégan, the Gallimard gallery is pleased to lift the veil on the backstage of major exhibitions.
For nearly 15 years, photographer Nicolas Krief has been roaming museums during exhibition hangings. His irresistible and offbeat photographs give us access to what visitors never see: the backstage of exhibitions and in particular the handling of works of art by specialists, the work of curators and installers.
These photographs are snapshots. No staging, no additional lighting, no posing equipment.
The way Nicolas Krief makes the sacred and the profane collide or respond to each other, scenes in reality and scenes in the works is jubilant. His eye is not lacking in humor, and makes him a singular artist.
The exhibition is part of the Photo Saint Germain festival.
- Left: "L’ange du bizarre. Le romantisme noir de Goya à Max Ernst". Musée d'Orsay. February 2013. William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Dante and Virgil (1850)
- Top right: “Splendeurs et misères. Images de la prostitution, 1850-1910 ”. Musée d’Orsay. September 2015. Female face with syphilitic acne, in polychrome wax (19th century)
- Bottom right: “Masculin / Masculin”, Musée d'Orsay. September 2013. Pierre Mignard, Ecce homo (1690)
Biography
Nicolas Krief was born in Paris and is a historian by training.
A freelance photographer, he collaborates with various national press titles.
His personal work also takes him to rural areas, where he continues to chronicle moments of sociability.
He is the winner of the major photographic commission “Radioscopie de la France” awarded by the Ministry of Culture and managed by the BnF, which focuses on what creates links and authority in the countryside.
The documentary photography that he practices in the manner of a street photographer seeks to reveal the myth, and to deconstruct the ambient discourse, the cliché.
Latest exhibitions
- 2024: Exhibition “La France sous leurs yeux, 200 regards photographiques sur la France des années 2020” at the BnF, François Mitterrand site (selection screened during Visa pour l'Image 2023).
- 2023: “Affaires personnelles” exhibition at the Transfo of Emmaüs Solidarité. Group exhibition with Anne Messager and Isabelle Rey-Lefebvre.
- 2021: “Accrochages ”, Champ des Impossibles Festival (Orne).
- 2019: Visa / Pixtrakk /ANI Prize at Visa pour l’Image for his work in museums.