For its 40th anniversary, the Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès brings together an exhibition of the twenty photographers who have accompanied its history. Presented as part of PhotoSaintGermain and the celebration of photography's bicentenary, the show reflects the diversity of styles and perspectives the gallery has championed. Founded in 1986 by Michèle Aittouarès, it was joined in 2000 by her daughter Odile, who created a section devoted to photography. With rigor, passion, and independence, the two have helped establish the gallery's place in the photography world, showing artists including John Craven, Mario Giacomelli, Malick Sidibé, Jean Dieuzaide, Antoine Schneck, Letizia Battaglia, and Franco Zecchin. From Mario Giacomelli to Antoine Schneck, the exhibition traces a path from the 1950s to the present day. It reveals choices guided by curiosity and an interest in a wide range of photographic practices: a plastic, graphic photography, like Giacomelli's, in dialogue with painting, but also a humanist, committed photography embodied by Dieuzaide or Battaglia. As art historian Pierre Wat writes of Michèle and Odile Aittouarès's approach: "I follow in the footsteps of this shared taste: seeking in art the trace of humanity."
Years of work devoted to these artists' output - solo exhibitions, books, video reports - have brought some of them wider recognition and cemented others' reputations, giving the gallery genuine expertise.
Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès
Since the gallery opened in 1986, Michèle Aittouarès and Odile Aittouarès-Inzerillo have made the choices they would make for their own personal collections, bringing paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and videos into dialogue with one another.