PhotoSaintGermain-Denise Colomb avec la MPP

Denise Colomb

« You arrive, you do not know what you will find. First, you do not know how the painter will behave. But you arrive completely emptied, completely open. Without that, it does not work. No will to do: let things happen. »

Denise Colomb, film by Anne Schaeffer, 1990

From Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Denise Colomb brought back dozens of portraits of painters and sculptors, captured in the intimacy of their studios from the post-war era until the end of the 70s. While she began photography in 1935, in Indochina, she received her first commission in 1947, with Antonin Artaud. Her first exhibition was held at the bookstore Le Minotaure in 1948.

Her passion for artists is partly owed to her elder brothers, gallery owners Pierre and Edouard Loeb, who left their mark on the history of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the art market. In autumn 1925, Pierre organized the first surrealist exhibition and became one of the most prominent dealers of the 20th century, alongside Ambroise Vollard and Berthe Weill. Edouard, for his part, launched Bram van Velde, Soto, Tinguely, and sent the reputation of Max Ernst soaring after the war.

This exhibition is designed in partnership with the Médiathèque du Patrimoine et de la Photographie, to whom Denise Colomb donated her work after stopping photography in the 90s. Here we encounter Nicolas de Staël – one of her most iconic series – Sonia Delaunay, Calder and his mobiles, Germaine Richier, and nearly thirty other artists captured by her lens.

Antoine Cahen, General Delegate of the Denise Colomb committee

This exhibition takes place within the framework of the PhotoSaintGermain festival. Organized in the heart of Paris, in the iconic Saint‐Germain‐des‐Prés neighborhood, PhotoSaintGermain is an annual festival dedicated to promoting photographic creation.

PhotoSaintGermain offers a free and freely accessible exhibition tour across a selection of museums, cultural centers, galleries, and bookstores on the Left Bank. This tour highlights a sharp and eclectic program designed by associated galleries, as well as several original exhibitions and novel projects imagined and produced by the festival.