Photographies de Gisèle Freund 1968

This original 1968 exhibition poster was designed by Guangé for a presentation of photographs by Gisèle Freund at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Organized by ARC—Animation, Recherche, Confrontation—the exhibition ran from April 9 to May 5, 1968, and the poster was printed in Paris by Deprest.

Formally entitled Au pays des visages, the exhibition surveyed thirty years of art and literature through Freund’s camera, from 1938 to 1968. It brought together her celebrated portraits of writers, artists and intellectuals, presenting photography as both a historical document and a means of interpreting individual character.

Guangé’s design replaces the conventional photographic portrait with a striking abstract face assembled from geometric forms. Circular eyes suggest camera lenses, while the strong central shape can be read simultaneously as a face, a camera and a mechanical viewing device. The imagery directly connects the act of looking with the photographic process.

The composition’s vivid red-orange, mustard yellow, ochre and black palette gives the poster a distinctly late-1960s character. Bold sans-serif typography is integrated into the image, while the asymmetrical arrangement and enlarged geometric forms reflect the experimental visual language associated with contemporary museum graphics.

Gisèle Freund was a German-born French photographer, photojournalist and sociologist renowned for her intimate portraits of many of the twentieth century’s leading cultural figures. Combining an important subject, a major Parisian museum and an exceptionally inventive graphic design, this original poster would make a compelling addition to a collection devoted to photography, modernist graphics or postwar French cultural history.

Original poster

Exhibition - Abstract

Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris

Deprest Paris

Good condition, light folds