This exhibition is being held at Jeu de Paume from 15.10.2013 to 26.01.2014. Its curator is Ute Eskildsen.
It is divided into seven sections : drawings, portraits, self-portraits, nudes, architecture, dictatorship and fashion. It is difficult to say which one I preferred. There are treasures in each of them.
Blumenfeld is always creating fantastic images playing with light, shadows and texture. Shooting in studio, he uses objects and materials to filter the light. See, for example, his pictures below entitled Portrait with Flowers Shadow and The Picasso Girl.
In the black room, he uses the possibilities of the development process, thus creating solar effects or overlaying two negatives on a single positive print. Sometimes he also cuts his pictures.
Some works reminds some aspects of Cubism and Futurism, as when he plays with mirrors, double exposures, overlays negatives and frames, multiplying the human or architectural forms… See below the Woman reflected in a mirror, followed by the Rouen’s Cathedral, and compare it with The Revolt by Luigi Russolo.
The very rich and creative repertory of techniques used by Blumenfeld is certainly a source of grace and inspiration.
Links:
- Erwin Blumenfeld : official site
- Presentation of Exhibition in the Jeu de paume’s site
- Erwin Blumenfeld: the man who shot beautiful womans
- Frances Guerin’s Blog
- Lunettes rouges’ Blog
Authors : Marine Beranger and Guillermo Vargas Quisoboni