Exposition de Tina Barney, Early Works

Born in 1945, Tina Barney is known for its large colour compositions exploring family dynamics and social codes of privileged environments. The six works on display belong to an earlier period of his practice. Made during summer stays at Rhode Island, they testify to a more spontaneous approach, which the artist herself compared to the “sketches that a painter could make in preparation for a more ambitious composition”.

Working with a 35 mm camera and nourished by the influence of Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand, which she considers “masters of photography not staged”, Tina Barney then favors the snapshot and direct observation. Black and white allows him to focus his attention on the material qualities of the image, bringing out textures, fabrics, hair, glazed surfaces and atmospheric effects.

Faces often remain out of sight, leaving plenty of room for gestures, postures and clothing. Costumes, white dresses and carefully crafted hairstyles thus become visible signs of social belonging. These founding works already reveal the themes that will cross the whole of his work: the conventions that govern human relations and the subtle structures that underlie the family sphere.