Last year was one to forget for the Parisian photography fair. The terrorist attacks that took place on Friday 13 November and caused the deaths of around 130 people, forced the city into shutdown. The fair was cut short, forgoing a weekend’s worth of sales and almost 40,000 visitors. This year, the fair and the city’s institutions are rallying to put last year’s events out of mind and give the grande dame of photography fairs the 20th anniversary it deserves.
The the Pompidou Centre is showing 100 works by 40 artists from the past ten years of acquisitions—part of its internationally acclaimed collection of more than 40,000 prints. A number of special exhibitions are also being organised in the Grand Palais to complement the gallery stands. They include Leica’s exhibition of work by the 37 laureates of its Leica Oskar Barnack Award, including Luc Delahaye and Jane Evelyn Atwood; and a show of works owned by JP Morgan, one of the fair’s official partners, from its own collection by artists including Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Cecil Beaton, Robert Doisneau and Walker Evans.
This year’s edition of Paris Photo has 178 exhibitors in all, 26 of which are new to the fair. Following its success last year, the Prismes sector has expanded this year to a larger space in the Salon d’Honneur of the Grand Palais; there are 14 presentations of works, including White Space Gallery’s selection of prints by the Russian cinematographer Andrei Tarkovsky, and an Edward Burtynsky display courtesy of the Howard Greenberg, Nicholas Metivier, Bryce Wolkowitz and Flowers galleries.
• Paris Photo, Grand Palais: VIP opening, 9 November; public days, 10-13 November