For its return to the Grand Palais, the Paris Photo fair, the world event for the still image, which will last until Sunday, November 10, rolled out the red carpet for the publishers of photography books: on the upper floor there are forty five, compared to thirty. five in 2023, demonstrating the success of the genre. “Some visitors are there just for that., confirms director Florence Bourgeois. More than 400 authors come to sign their works. » This year there are also old books: at Alain Sinibaldi’s stand, the legendary book (1931) by the modernist Moï Ver (1904-1995) is offered for 30,000 euros.
On the banks of the Seine, the Polycopies fair barge welcomes, for its part, 90 publishers of photography books from all over the world, and invited the photographer Bernard Plossu to talk about his works, who has published… 300 of them. “Every year we reject editors”testifies one of the organizers, Sebastian Hau, who also offers day jobs for smaller houses.
The sector is booming. More than 200 photo albums are published each year in France alone. In 2021, the magazine Photobook review estimated the number of specialized publishers in the world at 500. No fair or major photography festival now has its book sector, not to mention specialized events. “In recent years there has been a legitimization of the photography book as a tool of artistic expression, both in institutions and among collectors”, explains Clément Chéroux, director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, which organizes a public “foliation” every month in which a contemporary author comes to present his or her book.
“Among photographers, it has become as important as exposure., he said, and some, like Cristina de Middel, became known through their books. » For the historian, it is digital technology that has changed the situation. “It has become possible to design a book with software, print it in smaller runs, sell it online, make it known on social networks… As a result, the number of publishers has increased enormously. Not to mention self-publishing. »
At the same time, the appearance of books has changed, with publications with more original and experimental forms, with models worked by increasingly inventive graphic designers. “Today we are no longer in the beautiful book, the “coffee table book.”, testifies Fabienne Pavia, director of Le Bec en l’air editions, in Marseille, which publishes a dozen books a year. It has become an editorial genre in its own right and a creative object that creates a narrative from images. »
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