les petits riens: Monday, February 21, 2011

   The weather went from mild back to dreadfully cold this week, which resulted in a general drop in activity and spirits. As it turns out, the grey days of February are pretty much as grey in Paris as anywhere else, but after having been shamefully lazy all week, I've gotten it all out of my system and am looking forward to a busy coming week. However, before I drifted into my haze, there were a couple of things I've done since my last post that I felt are worth going back to.
   The first is a photographic exposition I saw last Sunday at the Petit Palais entitled Reporters sans Frontières. It was a show of work from two photographers--Pierre Boulat and his daughter Alexandra. I expected it to be quite dry but the exposition actually made a huge impression on me. I found it especially effective that it was staged so that the viewer could compare the work of the father--who took mostly black and white photographs mid-century of historic figures and events and was a prominent photographer for Life magazine--and the daughter--whose smaller body of work was no less moving with color photographs of more modern political and cultural conflicts, many set in the middle east. Alexandra's photographs were more emotionally striking, as can be seen by the photo most used in the promotional material for the exposition and set behind the title on the website here: http://petitpalais.paris.fr/en/expositions/reporters-sans-frontieres
   My favorite were Pierre's, whose work serves as evidence of a bygone era. My favorite of his by far (for obvious reasons) was a story he did on West Point for Life in 1957 entitled "Beast Barracks." It, like many of his other works, show the perspective of a Frenchman on Americana culture, which I found fascinating and very charming. I have included my two favorite of these pictures below. Also, here is a interesting video, though it is narrated in French, that shows the difference between the two bodies of work: http://vimeo.com/14997444

Pierre Boulat. Cadets of West Point ‘Beast Barracks’. USA. Dancing lesson. May , 1957

Pierre Boulat. Cadets of West Point ‘Beast Barracks’. USA. First day. May , 1957

"Tu as un mois pour perdre ton double mento.""Yes sir!"