The philosophy of Paris

Ernest Hemingway once wrote an autobiographical book, A Moveable Feast, which describes the period in the 1920s, when the young writer lived in Paris. This fascinating book is full of a sparkling life. I recalled it when I was visiting “Visual Generosity: the Pictures of Paris,” an exhibit of Vladimir Bazan’s pictures at Kyiv’s ART 14 gallery. The works show the view on the French capital by a foreigner who, nevertheless, knows it very well and has formed his own vision of the city.

This is the first time Bazan’s pictures are being displayed in Ukraine. The author, a Belarusian, has been living in Paris since 2008 as a political emigrant. Bazan is a well-known reportage master. His series “Think, my boy…” about a children’s penal colony, “Armenia, December 1988” about an earthquake in that country, and works about the life in Belarus in the 1970s-1980s were displayed at many exhibits and received awards in the Soviet Union and abroad. Bazan was also one of the founders of Belarus’ first non-state-run sociopolitical newspaper Vitebsky Kurier.

But it is Bazan’s artworks that are being shown in Kyiv. “Many people photograph Paris. Vladimir Bazan has a very special – artistic – vision of this city. It is a philosophical, splendid, and serene look at Paris, all the nooks of which seem to be well-known,” says ART 14 founder Kateryna BORYSENKO. “Vladimir Bazan reminds me of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassai, but we can also see his own view of the city.”

Some pictures show the objects which even those who have never been to Paris know very well, such as the Eiffel Tower, the glass pyramid of the Louvre, and the Musee d’Orsay. The other photographed places may not be universally known, but they speak volumes to those who know this city very well. For example, a narrow street with a row of little metal posts along the curb. “It is a Montmartre street with the cafe Lapin Agile [“Agile Rabbit.” – Author], which Paris school representatives, particularly cubists, frequented. Next to it is Le Bateau-Lavoir [“The Boat Wash-House.” – Author], where they lived. The photo shows the entrance to its courtyard. Far from everybody know about this site of Paris,” says Hlib VYSHESLAVSKYI, curator of the “Visual Generosity” exhibit.

A circular stairway on another picture (just a look at it makes you dizzy) is also associated with art. It leads to the studios of well-known migrant artists. The exhibit curator says this courtyard is situated near the Georges Pompidou Center and among those who work in these studios are Erik Bulatov and Vladimir Yankilevsky.

The tracks of the Saint-Lazare railway station are closely intertwined like destiny lines. “Someone said there is nothing Parisian here, but, for me, these tracks are very Parisian. In no other city did I see so much intertwined railways,” Vysheslavskyi comments. “Vladimir knows Paris perfectly – he knows the little secrets of this city. I can see elements of surrealism in some of his works, which change the proportions of a customary world, whereas other pictures are more classical. The author creatively continues the tradition of postwar humanistic photography, so typical of French art, although he does not copycat anybody.”

Bazan’s black-and-white pictures are rich in brilliant figures and stories. “I think color would hinder us from looking calmly. Color is not needed here,” Borysenko muses. “It is like on Japanese woodblock prints – there is very little, if any, color, and it is right. What matters here is composition. Vladimir has formal artistic education, which is noticeable. His photos look like paintings – he has a sense of composition, and keeps everything in balance.”

Incidentally, the photographer often posts his works on his Facebook page which a lot of people visit. No wonder this author is known in Ukraine, and some people, as Vysheslavskyi notes, take him for a Kyiv photo artist.

You can “take a walk” over Paris with Vladimir Bazan at the “Visual Generosity” exhibit in the ART 14 gallery till February 26.