This is M+’s first exhibition on photography, co-presented with the French May Arts Festival and in collaboration with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). It examines black-and-white photography as a time-honoured medium of art by presenting more than 250 important photographs from BnF’s collection, complemented by over 30 photographs from the M+ Collections, featuring over 170 internationally acclaimed photographers. Presented in three thematic sections — ‘Aiming for Contrast’, ‘Light and Shadow’, and ‘Colour Chart’— the exhibition explores the enduring aesthetics of black-and-white photography and offers different perspectives on black-and-white image-making over the course of more than a century.

Photo | Mario Giacomelli. I Have No Hands to Caress My Face, 1961–1963, printed ca.1971. BnF, Paris. © Mario Giacomelli Archives