Autophoto

In 2017, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented Autophoto, a unique exhibition devoted to the relationship between the automobile and photography, and to the way in which these two great inventions have redefined man’s relationship to space and time, as well as influencing the vision of a large number of artists. At once a coveted object combining aesthetics and performance, and a symbol of social status and freedom, over the years the car became a highly photographed object.
The catalog of the exhibition reveals how photography, a tool privileging immobility, benefited from the automobile. It brings together over 450 images by both historic and contemporary photographers who have looked at the automobile with passion and creativity, making it a veritable medium, wherein the language of photography is free to express itself in an uninhibited and original fashion, regardless of spatial and temporal constraints. Texts by specialists, interviews, quotes by artists, a brief history of automobile design, and a chronology provide a deeper understanding of this vast topic through a variety of aesthetic, sociological, and historical perspectives.