Two cultural institutions in Toulouse are joining forces to exhibit on the walls of the Abattoirs nearly 300 photographic works from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
The Abattoirs, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse © Adagp, Paris, 2024 © photo courtesy of the artist and
from the Rocio Santa Cruz Gallery, Barcelona
In Occitanie, the Musée des Abattoirs and the Galerie Le Château d'Eau are lending a helping hand to immerse us in their respective collections in order to develop a reflection on the nature and possibilities of photography. With "Opening Your Eyes," nearly 300 works bear witness to the major periods in the history of the medium and its artists since the beginning of the 20th century. A considerable challenge, but one met.
This exhibition takes up residence in the very heart of the Abattoirs, founded in 2000. The gallery, founded by Jean Dieuzaide in 1974, has closed its doors for expansion work until the end of the year. The museum space thus makes room for the work of great names and artists to (re)discover, such as Agnès Varda, André Kertész, William Klein, Alexander Apóstol, Brassaï, Gaël Bonnefon, Ouka Leele, Pilar Albarracín, Jean Dieuzaide, Sabine Weiss, Robert Mapplethorpe, Bernard Plossu, Denis Darzacq, Robert Doisneau…
The dialogue between the two institutions offers a wealth of approaches and techniques, styles and perspectives in an eclectic selection accompanied by installations designed by Sophie Calle, Annette Messager and Jeff Wall.
History of photography
The exhibition is divided into nine sections that cover numerous themes in the evolution of the medium. Beneath the nave of the Abattoirs, the chapter "Photographic Bodies" opens. Here, the physical envelope becomes "kaleidoscopic." It fragments, liberates itself, and sublimates itself, revealing "its history and its particular identity."
Room 01, entitled "On the Spot," explores the beginnings of objective photography, known as "true," capturing the "decisive moment" so dear to Cartier-Bresson. The second, "Parallel Realities," deals with scenes between fiction and reality, while the third, "Sublimating the Banal," celebrates the everyday and the ordinary through framing, light, and color. The next room, "Art and Matter," sets out in search of aesthetic innovation, reinterpreting the history of art through matter and composition. "The Fabrication of the Self" then explores ways of approaching portraiture, questioning the meaning and function of interpretation, while "Double I" focuses on the self-portrait.
The last two sections examine the perspectives of places and lines. One contemplates the scenes traversing space, whether urban or natural, war or agriculture, formal or poetic. The other is more interested in its geometrization and the confrontation of repertoires of forms.
A broad and exceptional panorama therefore, which explores the photographic medium of the 20th and 21st centuries in all its facets.
Les Abattoirs collection, Musée-Frac Occitanie Toulouse © Adagp, Paris, 2024 © photogr. courtesy
GP & N Vallois Gallery
Jochen Lempert, A Journey to the North Sea, 2009-2013, polyptych of 9
photographs, 100.7 x 83.8 cm/photo, Les Abattoirs collection, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse ©
Adagp, Paris, 2024 © photo Yves Chenot / courtesy Cnap, Paris-La Défense
on paper, 140 x 100 cm, Les Abattoirs collection, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse © Adagp, Paris,
2024 © courtesy of the artist and Galerie Mor Charpentier, Paris
Jeans
Jean Dieuzaide, My Pigeons in My Garden, 1979, black and white silver print, 65 x
50 cm, Les Abattoirs collection, Museum –Frac Occitanie Toulouse © SAIF © photo Grand Rond
Production
"Open your eyes"
The Slaughterhouses, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse
76, Charles-de-Fitte alleys, Toulouse
Until May 18, 2025
