Family ties: Tina Barney explores family ties in exhibition at Jeu de Paume

She is often overlooked in France, and that’s a shame. The Jeu de Paume is determined to change this state of affairs by devoting a major retrospective to the American photographer Tina Barney.

Fascinated by the family, its dynamics and secret histories, Tina Barney has devoted much of her career to observing and immortalizing the silent, cultural rituals that bind generations together. The photographer is also known for her portraits of celebrities, fashion and luxury images created for the press and magazines. This retrospective showcases these different series, dating from the 1970s to the present day.

The exhibition Tina Barney: Family Ties brings together 55 large-scale photographic prints. In color or black and white, from her first steps to images from 2019, from her greatest successes to previously unpublished photographs, from her personal projects to professional commissions, the exhibition offers a complete overview of the career of the celebrated American photographer.

Tina Barney loves images that tell a story. She uses her family, friends and clients to explore the many stories that can unfold within a family. Siblings, parents and children, adults who become children again in the presence of their parents… Relationships change and evolve over the years, depending on ties and hierarchies.

The artist favors group portraits, which she composes like a painting. Positions, looks, gestures, settings and accessories: nothing is left to chance, and every detail contributes to the chosen narrative. Tina Barney also captures moments in time, pure moments that tell the story of a raw, everyday life that is as banal as it is poetic.

The photographer also uses this special vision in her other projects: celebrity portraits and fashion campaigns benefit from the same sensitivity and attention to detail that make these shots so striking.

Be sure to discover this American artist at theJeu de Paume exhibition in September.