Robert Polidori's Versailles premieres in Canada with never-before-seen images

2 juin 2013

Robert Polidori's Versailles premieres in Canada with never-before-seen images

Robert Polidori. Salle les campagnes militaires et le décor des résidences royales, foreground, Escalier Questel, background, (93) ANR.02.011, Salles du XVII ANR.02.012, Aile du Nord - 1er étage, Versailles (RP.Vers.v1p150), 2008. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

MONTREAL.- Montreal-born artist Robert Polidori is one of the world’s leading architectural photographers, known for his unerring esthetic that communicates the essence of a place. His images of New Orleans, Havana and Chernobyl have captured international attention. But possibly his most renowned work is his series on Versailles, a project he worked on for 20 years after winning the exclusive contract to document the restoration of this iconic chateau. He captured a palpable sense of the subtle and the sensational; studies of a bygone age. Over 300 years old, colours captured by his camera are still vivid, though weary.

A tour-de-force record, the photos offer an exquisitely rendered reality that provides a new perspective on art history. Unlike Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’ - that incisive second when an action takes place - Polidori’s approach is contemplative. His slow shutter speed captures a sense of stillness that speaks volumes. The images are soft yet crisp; details spring to the eye through a mood of nostalgia. Evocative of eras past, they are moving metaphors of time. These ‘‘catalysts for states of beauty,’’ as Polidori suggests, also brilliantly capture a sense of now: You are there, in front of a beautifully intricate wall molding that hides a secret door; staring at a stately stocking; looking at lace. History is documented, with the subject matter in each photograph listed and dated. The images become almost timeless in their poignant commentary on times lived and lost; on the inexplicable intricacies of life; yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Robert Polidori is one of the world's most acclaimed photographers of human habitats and environments. His career began in the mid 1980s when he won permission to document the restoration of the Château de Versailles, beginning a love affair with the palace that has continued to this day. He has since documented sites across the world and is currently a staff photographer for The New Yorker. He was commissioned by the magazine to photograph New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, and many of these images were subsequently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Robert Polidori lives and works in New York. He won the World Press Award in 1998, and he has twice won the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography (1999 and 2000). He has published eleven photo books, most recently After The Flood (Steidl, 2006), and a three-volume compilation of his pictures of Versailles, Robert Polidori: Parcours Museologique Revisite (Steidl, 2009). His major solo exhibitions include a mid-career retrospective at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, and his work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

Galerie de Bellefeuille, 1367 Greene Avenue 514. 933.4406. Open 7 days a week.

Robert Polidori. Foreground: Salle les campagnes militaires et le décor des résidences royales, (93) ANR.02.011, background: Escalier Questel, ANR.02.012, Salles du XVII, Aile du Nord – 1er étage, 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori. Salle le sentiment religieux, (7) ANR.01.007, Salles du XVII, Aile du Nord – R.d.C., 2008. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori. Colbert, (6) ANR.01.006, Salles du XVII, Aile du Nord – R.d.C, 2007. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori. Salle la cour, (9) ANR.01.009, Salle du XVII, Aile du Nord - RdC, Versailles, 2006. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori. Salle de Crimée Sud (98)ANR.02.035, Salles de l’Afrique, Aile du Nord - 1er Etage, Versailles, 2007. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Vestibule, Salles Empire, Aile Du Midi, Versailles, 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, AMI.04.004, Attique du Midi, Aile du Midi - Attique, Versailles (triptych), 2009. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori,Salle la création de l’académie de peinture et de sculpture, (11) ANR.01.011, Salle du XVII, Aile du Nord – R.d.C., 2007. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Cabinet Intérieur de Madame Victoire, (56 A) CCE.01.054, Corps Central - R.d.C, Versailles, 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Boiserie et Rideaux, Chambre de la Reine, (115) CCE.02.029, Corps Central - 1er étage, Versailles, 2007. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Security camera and boiserie detail, Grand Cabinet de Madame Victoire, (54)CCE.01.052, Corps Central - RdC, Versailles, 2005. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Salle de Crimée Sud, (99) ANR.02.036, Salles de l’Afrique, Aile du Nord – 1er étage, Château de Versailles, France, 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, AMI.04.001, Attique du Midi, Aile du Midi - Attique, Château de Versailles, France, 2005. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Madame Adélaïde, (56 C) CCE.01.058, Corps Central – R.d.C., Château de Versailles, France, 1986. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Vestibule, (73) AMI.01.009, Salles Empire, Aile du Midi - R.d.C, Château de Versailles, France, 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Escalier des salles de l'Afrique, anr.02.037, aile du nord - 1er étage, Versailles (RP.Vers.292), 1985. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Série Versailles. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Robert Polidori, Galerie des Glaces, (113) CCE.02.034, Corps Central - 1er étage, Versailles, 1983. Photo courtesy Galerie de Bellefeuille.