The works of Jean-Paul Goude, one of France’s most influential designers and photographers, are currently being exhibited in Nice.
Many things spring to mind when one hears the name Jean-Paul Goude: the numerous photos of his muse, Grace Jones, his advertising campaigns for Chanel, and of course, the parade he conducted down the Champs Elysées to celebrate the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989.
An illustrator, photographer, graphic designer, and advertising film director, Goude is a man of many talents who has succeeded in creating his own universe. The Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image is now paying tribute to this unique artist.
The exhibition ‘Jean-Paul Goude – Une Introspection‘, which runs until the 25th of May, consists of some 236 photographs and a 52-minute film made specifically for the event by Goude himself, and aims at giving an understanding of the artist’s style and different facets.
Once named the best photographer in the world by Andy Warhol, Jean-Paul Goude started his career more than 40 years ago, first in Paris, and then in New York, where he worked for Esquire and New York Magazine, before revolutionizing the advertising world in the eighties, thanks to his innovative campaigns for brands such as Kodak, Perrier and Lee Cooper Jeans.
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His commercials for the Citroën CX in which a car drives out of the mouth of Grace Jones in a desert, or the one he directed for Chanel Coco perfume in which Vanessa Paradis is transformed into a bird and put inside a cage on a flying trapeze, still rank today as some of his most famous works.
Some of the pictures on display have also become iconic, including the photo of model Farida Khelfa holding her Pygmalion Azzedine Alaia in her hands or that of Laetitia Casta for Galeries Lafayettes. One quickly realizes that Goude has left his mark on fashion photography like very few other artists have.
The exhibition, ’Jean-Paul Goude, Une Introspection‘, runs until 25th May, 2014 at the Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image, from 10am – 6pm daily (closed Mondays). Admission is free.
CONTACT DETAILS
Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image Charles Nègre
27, boulevard Dubouchage
06000
Nice
Tel: 04 97 13 42 20
Lead image © Some Rights Reserved David Monniaux on Wikimedia Commons; licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
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