Respected writer in the United States, the American Wright Morris (1910-1998) took an experimental approach to photography, seeking very early on to "capture the essence of what is visible".
Wright Morris spent his childhood between Nebraska, Chicago, the farms of his uncles and accompanied his father on long trips across America. At 23, he traveled through Europe and upon his return decided to devote himself entirely to writing. He immediately understood that photography could capture what he had hitherto tried to "capture with words". This formal pursuit led to his first "phototext", The Inhabitants (1946), in which fictional texts are paired with photographs taken primarily in Nebraska, where he grew up.
Unlike his fiction which often focuses on flamboyant characters, his photographs are virtually devoid of figures. Nevertheless a lot of life flows silently between the (ubiquitous) chairs, mirrors, cars or even the wooden architecture (fundamental). It is as if his photographs are rooted in the earth, imbued with a disarming simplicity while retaining the enigmatic character of places and objects laid bare, with no human presence to bring them to life. The bard of the intimate, Wright Morris makes the invisible visible and this paradox is probably the noblest intention of photography.
The exhibition is accompanied by the catalog L'essence du visible and the collection of texts Fragments de temps both published by Éditions Xavier Barral.
WRIGHT MORRIS – L'ESSENCE DU VISIBLE from 18 June to 29 September 2019
