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La Maison Rouge in Paris presents the unique collection of cinema mogul Marin Karmitz, made public for the first time. Tickets now available on Divento!
The multi-media show plays up his background in film, encouraging you to identify plot lines in his collecting habits and immerse yourself in the visual stories told by his taste in photographs, paintings, sculptures and videos. These plot lines are often historical, and the impact of the political turmoil that dominated much of 20th century Europe and America is impossible to ignore
The show is self-consciously unpalatable: there is no assumption that Karmitz’ collection will please everyone. Much of it is intensely political, and there is a strong inclination towards black-and-white, which is a welcome and interesting departure from much of Paris’ museum scene. It’s a far cry from the plethora of bold-hued Fauvist works and delicate airy Impressionist canvasses that dominate the city’s most famous establishments.
We get a taste for Karmitz the collector, and the passion and patience that went into his gradual build up of a portfolio of favourite artists and themes. This insight is corroborated by the ample information in the exhibition’s catalogue, which includes an interview with him. He explains that he struggles to think of his works as a ‘collection’ because it is unfinished and organically growing. He also explains his preference for the medium of photography, explaining that to him, it is the only medium capable of properly capturing a moment in history. A photographer can do in a single click what a novelist must devote pages to.
This idea of capturing a moment in time is integral to the collection. The show is a series of snapshots, a reel of moments: the collector’s version of what surrealists called ‘automatic writing’.
La Maison Rouge
10 Boulevard de la Bastille, 75012 Paris
Opening Hours
Wednesday-Sunday 11.00-19.00; Thursday until 21.00.
Closed: Monday, Tuesday, December 25th, January 1st and May 1st
December 24th and December 31st: closing at 16.00
Concession tickets
13-18 year olds, students, seniors (+65), the unemployed, disabled visitors, members of ICOM and Amis de La Maison Rouge.
Free: under-13s, the unemployed, disabled visitors and companions of disabled visitors, members of ICOM and amis of La Maison Rouge
Gotthard Schuh, Grubenarbeiter, Belgique, 1937 ©Fotostiftung Schweiz. Courtesy Collection Marin Karmitz
Bernard Dufour, Il regarde le lippu, 2015 © Bernard Dufour, Adagp, 2017. Courtesy Collection Marin Karmitz, Paris
Johan van der Keuken, Portraits de Marin Karmitz, 1956. © Willem Van Zoetendaal. Courtesy Collection Marin Karmitz, Paris