"Woman Waiting to Proceed South at Sunset and Highland Boulevards, Los Angeles, at Approximately 11:59 a.m. One Day in February 1997" (1997) by Andrew Bush —
A new exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris called "Autophoto" brings together 500 photographs of cars, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Associate curator Leanne Sacramone's chose 10 significant images from the exhibition. Here, she explains their significance.
From "Los Alamos" (1965-1968) by William Eggleston —
"The car has often been a subject in the work of William Eggleston. Perhaps this has something to do with what he calls his 'democratic' approach to photography and his fascination for everyday subjects. In our exhibition, we have selected a series of photographs from his 'Los Alamos' series. He took these pictures on various road trips he made throughout the southern states between 1965 and 1973 with the curator and museum director Walter Hopps. They passed through Memphis, New Orleans, Los Alamos and Santa Monica."
"Los Alamos" series (1974) by William Eggleston —
The car is not only the subject of many of the photographs from this series but also the means that enabled Eggleston to take them. He originally planned on exhibiting the photographs from this series in a non-hierarchical manner with no commentary or titles, but the project was put aside until 2003 when it was finally shown at the Ludwig Museum.
"Zizka Cleaners Car, Buick Electra" (1976) by Langdon Clay —
"Langdon Clay took these pictures of cars between 1974-1976 in New York City and New Jersey. He photographed them all at night in streets devoid of people, taking advantage of the warm bright light of the sodium vapor street lanterns that had recently been installed in the city. The cars are photographed in profile against striking backgrounds, recalling the Renaissance portraits that inspired the photographer. For this reason, this series has been included in our section playfully called 'Autoportraits,' a play on words in French that means both car portraits and self-portraits."
"Car Girls" (2002-2008) by Jacqueline Hassink —
"In our exhibition we devoted a gallery to the 'life' of the car, from its birth in the factory to its purchase and use in everyday life. In this section, we also present works that explore the role of the automobile in history and society."
"Car Girls" (2002-2008) by Jacqueline Hassink —
"The Dutch photographer Jacquline Hassink spent five years photographing car shows in seven different cities across three continents in order to examine how major car brands ideal images of femininity to market their products and define their corporate identity."
From "Windows" (2009) by Óscar Fernando Gómez —
"Óscar Fernando Gómez is a taxi driver working in Monterrey who is passionate about photography. He began to take photographs from the window of his taxi when his wife was pregnant, in order to make an album for their future child. His daughter sadly died at birth, but Gómez continued taking pictures from the window of his taxi, capturing the everyday lives of people who live in the poorer areas of Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon."
From "Windows" (2009) by Óscar Fernando Gómez —
"It is interesting to see the many ways in which the car window is used as a compositional device in the works of the photographers presented in the exhibition. Gómez uses it systematically like a frame within a frame positioning the different scenes he observes from his car window centrally in the composition."
"Une Delage au Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, circuit de Dieppe" (1912) by Jacques Henri Lartigue —
"Jacques Henri Lartigue hadn't even reached his 20th birthday when he took this photo in 1912, during the Grand Prize of the Automobile Club de France. He was not satisfied with this picture at the time because it was blurry, distorted and poorly composed, according to the standards of the time, with the car cut off at the right hand side of the image. It has since become a seminal image in the history of twentieth century photography, its immediacy and dynamism a visual expression of modernity."
"America by Car" series (2008) by Lee Friedlander —
"When planning 'Autophoto,' we were not only interested in how the car provided a subject and new set of themes for photographers, but also in how it offered them a new way of exploring the world and a new means of expression. The photographs from Lee Freidlander's 'America by Car' series illustrate this idea perfectly. He took the photographs for this series on various road trips, over a 15-year period, looking to capture the eccentricities of the American roadside. In these photographs, the different elements inside of the car, for example the steering wheel, rear-view mirrors and windows, provide the photographer with a variety of compositional devices, allowing him to create a humorous view of America's distinctive visual landscape."
"Untitled" from "Moteurs" (2002) by Valérie Belin —
"Valérie Belin began photographing these car motors after she saw the piles of twisted steel beams in the wreckage of the World Trade Center following September 11. Inspired by the work of the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbaran, she photographed these motors in the manner of still lives or memento mori. In these works, the motors strongly resemble human hearts. In several works presented in the exhibition, photographers have created a visual and symbolic analogy between the car body and its parts, and the human body."
From "Secuelas" (2000-2003) by Fernando Gutiérrez —
"We included the work of Fernando Gutierrez in our exhibition to show how the car has played an important role in history and collective memory. His work entitled 'Secuelas' is a series of portraits of Ford Falcons, a car that was used by the police and government officials during the Dirty War in Argentina. The car was used for kidnappings and thus became an instrument and symbol of terror for the Argentinian people."
"Lincoln Continental, Ukok Plateau, Siberian Altai, Russia" (1995) by Patrick Nagatani —
"Patrick Nagatani's 'Excavations' series revolves around a fictional story invented by the artist about an imaginary archeologist named Ryoichi who finds cars in a series of important archeological sites around the world. Ryoichi theorizes that a mysterious group of individuals -- perhaps aliens -- performed rituals with these automobiles and then buried them in significant places around the world. In Patrick Nagatani's work, cars are no longer symbols of modern technology but what remains of our contemporary civilization."
"Via Ligea, Salerno" (2014) by Sue Barr —
"We have included a section devoted to works that explore how photography has changed our landscape. British photographer Sue Barr followed in the footsteps of the 19th century Romantics who took the Grand Tour, traveling through Italy to study classical culture and experience for themselves the sublime landscapes painted by Claude Lorraine and William Turner. She photographed the motorways, galleries and tunnels that have taken the place of these beautiful natural landscapes. As Sue Barr has stated, 'speed and concrete' have brought us a 'new accelerated sublime.'"
