Colbert strive to balance the best qualities of both
public and private institutions: free access, impar-
tial selections, and direct contact with the public
with freedom of initiative and flexible activities.
More than one hundred exhibitions have filled the
gallery walls since its inception.
The photography collection at the BnF is often
the principal source of images for many major
exhibitions. The 1977 exhibition of creative twen-
tieth century photography at the National Mu-
seum of Modern Art in the Georges-Pompidou
Center was built from the BnF collection. Also,
works from the BnF were exhibited at the Pavi-
lion des Arts in 1984 titled, ‘‘Creative Photogra-
phy.’’ The 1994–1995 exhibition and book, La
matiere, l’ombre, et la fiction, grouped 279 photo-
graphs by 104 authors in a major look at works
from the collection.BRUCEMcKaig
Further Reading
Bibliothe`que nationale de France homepage. http://www.
bnf.fr/ (accessed May 4, 2005).
Bibliothe`que nationale de France, ed.‘‘Bonjour Monsieur
Lemagny.’’ inNouvelles de la photographie, Paris: 1996.
Delage de Luget, Marion.Jean-Claude Lemagny, maitre
d’oeuvre, D.E.A. d’Arts Plastique Universite Paris VIII,
U.F.R. Arts Plastique, Research Director Francois Sou-
lages, June 2001.
Lemagny, Jean-Claude.La Matiere, l’ombre, la fiction
(Matter, Shadow, Fiction), Paris: Nathan and the Bib-
liothe`que nationale de France, 1994.RICHARD BILLINGHAM
British
Richard Billingham does not consider himself
strictly a photographer. He began taking snapshot
photographs as part of a wider effort to gather pre-
paratory source materials for his paintings when he
started his degree in fine art at the University of
Sunderland in 1991. Over the course of the next
five years, using a simple auto-exposure camera
and cheap film, Billingham photographed his family
in their council flat home in the Midlands of Eng-
land. The resulting color images are garish in tech-
nique and content. They seem to break all the classic
formal rules of photography and suggest amateur-
ism; many images are out of focus, overexposed,
haphazardly framed, or display an extremely grainy
print quality. But Billingham’s candid portraits of
his parents, Ray and Liz, his brother Jason, and va-
rious family pets, are an intimate and unapologetic
depiction of the artist’s working class home life.
Their amateurism can perhaps be overlooked in
light of their honesty.
In this collection of photographs, distressing
images of addiction and violence are juxtaposed
with captured moments of comedy and tender affec-
tion. Ray’s alcoholism is a consistent theme. Bill-
ingham’s grey-haired, gaunt, middle-aged father is
pictured in various states of sobriety; falling over,
seated next to a vomit-spattered toilet, tucked up in
bed with the covers to his chin, or just staring back
at the camera through vague, uncertain eyes. Bill-
ingham captures his mother’s expressive range also.
Liz, a large rounded woman with vibrant tattooed
arms, is pictured vehemently arguing with Ray, and
then joyfully cuddling a tiny kitten. Her presence is
felt throughout the home as various feminine knick-
knacks decorate the grubby walls and furniture of
the flat.
Initially Billingham’s photographs of his family
were not intended for exhibition or to form a cohe-
sive series, and most still remain untitled. But a
selection of images was first publicly shown in
1994 inWho’s Looking at the Family?at the Barbi-
can Art Gallery in London, and from there, Bill-
ingham’s career quickly flourished. By 1995 his
work was being represented by Anthony Reynolds
Gallery in London and his first book of photo-
graphs,Ray’s a Laugh, was published in 1996. Over-
night the book brought him notoriety and critical
acclaim as critics were at odds about the photo-
graphs. Admirers applauded his snapshot aesthetic
and the vernacular quality of the spontaneous
images. They commended his critique of traditional
social documentary practices by using gaudy color
and avoiding a customary discreet or impartial dis-
tance from his subject. In this respect Billingham’sBIBLIOTHE`QUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE