Acacias Art Center - "The Portraits" Exhibition

 

The Acacias Art Center hosted a keynote exhibition, Guy Bourdin – The Portraits, featuring rare works produced between 1950 and 1980.

Widely acclaimed as one of the greatest photographers of the second half of the 20th century and a brilliant inventor of fashion and advertising images, Guy Bourdin produced several of his photographic projects at the Acacias Art Center.

"Guy Bourdin: The Portraits" is a selection of the most personal works ever shown in Paris since his death in 1991, showcasing rare images produced between 1950-1980. Curated by historian Shelly Verthime, the exhibition gathers more than 150 of the artist's photographs from an intimate and personal perspective. His early black-and-white works, largely influenced by surrealism, often overlooked, sit alongside his most iconic and timeless photographs, as well as Super-8 films from his personal collection. The exhibition highlights the central role that Surrealism played in the photographer's work. Influenced by his close ties to Man Ray, Guy Bourdin's early portraits lay the foundation for his surrealist language and approach, which would eventually become one of his stylistic signatures.

Bringing to a close forty years of Guy Bourdin's artistic research, the exhibition ends with his colour press and advertising photography, which revolutionised fashion photography at the end of the 20th century. 

Defying convention with his mysterious, hypnotic and Surrealist take on fashion photography, he invented bold, often appealing images with a unique modern aesthetic. Finally, the exhibition sheds light on Guy Bourdin the fashion film pioneer, through several Super-8 films taken from his personal collection, which he shot himself during photo shoots. Primarily a creator of images, Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) continued to learn and explore, from his first portraits to his advertising images, in which each person plays an essential but never overwhelming role. His works continue to feel modern to this day.

Reiffers Art Initiatives is a foundation created to support young contemporary creation and cultural diversity. 

Reiffers Art Initiatives’ mission is to support France’s new art scene and give it international visibility. It finances and gives exposure to thirty emerging artists every year, who will influence tomorrow’s contemporary art scene. 

Reiffers Art Initiatives - (Re)generation Prize exhibition 2024 

"(Re)generation" is the third group show of the Reiffers Art Initiatives Prize

Curated by Vittoria Matarrese, “(Re)generation” brings together five emerging artists from the contemporary scene, selected by the artistic committee: Majd Abdel Hamid, Alex Ayed, Clédia Fourniau, Garance Früh and Aïcha Snoussi. 

Majd Abdel Hamid, Alex Ayed, Clédia Fourniau, Garance Früh and Aïcha Snoussi belong to the same generation, born between the late 80s and early 90s, but what links them is much deeper. Their way of telling the world, the freedom of their narratives and forms, the imaginary elsewhere that each of these artists evokes, proposes a form of regeneration of the gaze, the history and their respective practices.

On the one hand, Clédia Fourniau and Garance Früh strive to destructure the material of their creations. Both artists emphasize a certain physicality, a capacity for works to be impregnated and permeable.

On the other hand, Majd Abdel Hamid, Alex Ayed and Aïcha Snoussi explore the fecundity of images through their practice. Their works are conceived as a call to the open sea, a way of departing from dominant narratives. Despite their very different practices, they all call on fiction, the novel or the invention of alternative rituals, generating new forms and narratives with restorative power.

This year's Reiffers Art Initiatives Prize rewards French artist Clédia Fourniau. 

The artistic committee of Reiffers Art Initiatives has named young French artist Clédia Fourniau winner of the Prize 2024, following Serpas in 2023 and Pol Taburet in 2022. After a 3-year course at the Olivier de Serres school, Clédia Fourniau graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021 with the congratulations of the jury. Clédia's work explores the gestural dimension of abstract painting, questioning the relationship between body and space, and the conditions of creation and reception of a work of art.

Balenciaga - ss25

Balenciaga Spring-Summer 2025 show by Demna in Paris, produced by La Mode en Images. 

With offices in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia, La Mode en Images designs and produces fashion shows, brand exhibits and large scale events for brands, who deliver custom-made and immersive events worldwide.

Collaboration with other areas of expertise within the Group enriches these moments with virtual experiences and NFT programs.