PADFAS (The Arts Society Paris) invites members of the Cambridge Society of Paris to join their Live online Zoom lecture on Thursday 17th February, 2022 at 14.00.

Deborah Jenner will present Paul Strand’s “Straight Photography”.

Paul Strand’s sharply focused Straight Photography elevated this Machine Age tool – a camera – to a medium of Fine Art through exquisitely composed images in highly contrasted tones of black and white. His 1915 shot of “Wall Street” extracted the ready-made (yet hidden) symbols of J P Morgan’s bank façade to reveal parallels with Di Vinci’s Last Supper mural. It suggests the misplaced sanctity of modern financial institutions. Strand’s 1922 article on The New Trilogy (making “God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost” into “the machine, materialism and science”) clearly criticises the Industrial Age’s worshipping of false gods. His and Charles Sheeler’s chillingly still and vacated views of Henry Ford’s River Rouge automobile plant portray it as a soulless cathedral.

Strand was always there at the cutting edge from Gallery 291 and NYC Dada to documentary filmmaking in LA & Mexico. Banished from the USA during the McCarthy Era, he travelled the world’s political hotspots to finally settle in France compiling photo-book portraits of place. Ever shooting iconic views, his objective, mechanical recording of reality ironically reveals the subjectivity of all human vision.

Deborah Jenner is an American-born art historian; member of College Arts Association. Residing in Paris since 1990, she has worked at the Ecole du Louvre, the Sorbonne, the Catholic Institute and the British Council. Her Doctorate thesis proved non-western influences in Georgia O’Keeffe’s art. Her publications include catalogue essays for Musée d’Orsay (New York City et l’Art modern) and Centre Pompidou (Les Traces du Sacré), scholarly papers with the research laboratory S.A.R.I. and Gallery critiques in ArtAsiaPacific, and PerformArts: Artvisuel-Artvivant. She gives public talks, guided walks and museum tours for ex-pat organisations and study-abroad programs and volunteers as an Al Gore Climate leader and JCF Round Table coordinator. She is a member of The Arts Society Paris.

Please book your free place directly with PADFAS by using this link.