Michael Schmidt: Another German photography, Exhibition, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris: 8 June-29 August 2021

This is archived material. It is for reference purposes only.

The Musée du Jeu de Paume pays tribute to this great photographer through an exhibition including originals, unpublished prints, book models and a rich documentation that testify to his artistic evolution.

Michael Schmidt, born in Berlin in 1945, has dedicated his life and work to his native city. In the 1960s, this self-taught artist discovered photography. His first series of photographs was devoted to Kreuzberg and Wedding, two districts of West Berlin. In 1987, his project Waffenruhe (Ceasefire) took a truly artistic turn and made him known internationally. These raw, atmospheric images portray a city still split in two at the end of the Cold War.

Michael Schmidt is an admired and respected figure among his peers in Germany and on the international scene, yet he has been shown very little in France. The exhibition focuses on the different forms of society and political systems that exist in Germany, as well as on the image of women and the importance of nature. His last major series, Lebensmittel (Food), in which he explores contemporary food production, won him the Prix Pictet just days before his death in 2014.

The Musée du Jeu de Paume pays tribute to this great photographer through an exhibition including originals, unpublished prints, book models and a rich documentation (invitation cards, posters, exhibition views, etc.) that testify to his artistic evolution and his influence on both post-war and contemporary artists. It also seeks to highlight the process of recognition of photography as an artistic form of expression in Germany and Europe from the 1970s onwards and reveals the breadth and originality of Michael Schmidt's practice, which employs a unique photographic method for each of his series. He is thus an artist who has influenced an entire generation of photographers through his continuous exploration and innovation.

Untitled, Berlin-Kreuzberg. Stadtbilder (Berlin-Kreuzberg. Cityscapes) 1981-1982 Michael Schmidt © Foundation for Photography and Media Art with the Michael Schmidt Archive
Untitled, Berlin-Kreuzberg. Stadtbilder (Berlin-Kreuzberg. Cityscapes) 1981-1982 Michael Schmidt © Foundation for Photography and Media Art with the Michael Schmidt Archive

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