Barbara Crane. until 6 Jan 2025. Centre Pompidou, Paris – France

Bringing together over 200 works, this exhibition looks back at the first 25 years of the career of American photographer Barbara Crane (1928-2019). Her body of work is remarkable for the synthesis it produces between the American tradition of straight photography and a more experimental sensibility inherited from the European avant-gardes, characteristic of the teachings of the Chicago school. This is demonstrated in her approach to the city – mainly Chicago – and its anonymous inhabitants, which she based on concepts of sequence and series, accidents and discipline, and explored tirelessly through a range of photographic techniques that she pushed to their perfectionist limits.

As a major figure in American photography, Barbara B. Crane (1928-2019) constantly explored photographic forms and techniques. This is the Chicago-born artist’s first major monographic exhibition in Europe, featuring over 200 works, some of which were recently added to the Musée National d’Art Moderne collection.

The exhibition focuses on the first 25 years of her career. It showcases some of her major works, several of which are being exhibited for the first time. Her photographic approach to cities and their anonymous inhabitants, starting with Chicago, is especially singular. Featuring in many public and private collections in the US, Barbara Crane’s is little known as yet in France.