Eustachy Kossakowski - 6 Mètres Avant Paris
The photographer's series documents the former outskirts of Paris, setting road signs that once indicated entry to the city against the expanding suburbs of the 1970s, when the city's boundaries shifted and urban demarcation became increasingly blurred.
Photograph from Eustachy Kossakowski's 1970s series, 6 mètres avant Paris
The photographer's series documents the former outskirts of Paris, setting road signs that once indicated entry to the city against the expanding suburbs of the 1970s, when the city's boundaries shifted and urban demarcation became increasingly blurred.
Eustachy Kossakowski worked as a photographer for Polish magazines in the 1950s and '60s, shooting black-and-white series of everyday Polish life in cities and provinces. In Poland's elusive, innovative artistic and theatrical circles in the late '60s, he gained fame for his singular way of capturing the spirit of the times.
Emigrating to Paris in 1970, Kossakowski took a more conceptual approach to his craft, characterized by a precise, objective emphasis. The series 6 Mètres Avant Paris is indicative of this shift, depicting Paris city-limit signs from exactly 6 metres distance, the sign in the center of the frame. Intriguing differences show in the images' backdrops, set in various newly urbanized areas no longer on the city's outskirts, though the signs had remained. Suburban neighbourhoods, shops, factories, highways and overgrown lots document the everyday life of Paris - or, rather, at the city's former fringes.
A captivating frisson of anticipation, evident whenever one approaches this wonderful city, enlivens Kossakowski's series. His wife, the art critic Anka Ptaszkowska, says the idea came to him one day as they walked around Paris, Eustachy with his camera in hand. "He saw about ten times more than I did. One day he showed me a billboard that said 'Paris' and said we should take a picture of it. This is how our great adventure began."
The Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm exhibited the series in the 1970s, as did other prominent art institutions across Europe. All 159 images are on view in Warsaw for the first time, more 40 years later, at the Arton Foundation Gallery between the 23rd of November 2012 -5th of January 2013. The recent album published by Nous is available in Polish, French and English, with critical texts by François Barré, Adam Mazura and other experts. For more information on the album, see:
www.editions-nous.com
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Embeded gallery style
display gallery as slider
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