As both witnesses and artists of their time, the photographers of Magnum Photos testified to the changes of the 20th century. Almost eighty years of the history of Paris are played out under their gaze: revolutions and minor conflicts, moments of grace and tragedy, celebrities, great men and the man in the street.
The jubilation and clenched fists of the Front Populaire echoed the harsh world of work of the 1930s. The post-war period was again marked by anxiety and poverty. Then came the pop years and May 1968 which inflamed streets and spirits. Later on, Libération made its mark on the journalistic landscape and Nuit Blanche turned the capital into an open-air museum.
Like a character of the exhibition in its own right, Paris reveals itself in perpetual transformation. The large housing developments profoundly altered the silhouette of the city. Cultural institutions also gambled on modernity. The Louvre presented its pyramid and the Pompidou Centre its innovative architecture. La Défense introduced its Grande Arche into the landscape, announcing the arrival of Greater Paris, proof of the capital’s ever-renewing zest for life.
Photographers: Abbas, Christopher Anderson, Bruno Barbey, René Burri, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Raymond Depardon, Elliott Erwitt, Martine Franck, Leonard Freed, Jean Gaumy, Burt Glinn, Harry Gruyaert, Philippe Halsman, Richard Kalvar, Josef Koudelka, Sergio Larrain, Erich Lessing, Herbert List, Alex Majoli, Wayne Miller, Inge Morath, Martin Parr, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Guy Le Querrec, Marc Riboud, David ‘Chim’ Seymour, Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Patrick Zachmann.
