Exhibition Review: Yoshi Takata, Looking at Paris (1955 - 1987)

Portrait of Yoshi Takata, Courtesy Pierre Pelegry © Yoshi Takata

Written by Angelica Cantù Rajnoldi

Edited by Jana Massoud

From the 2nd of March to the 26th of April, Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais gallery is exhibiting the historical and enchanting oeuvre of the Japanese photographer Yoshi Takata’s Parisian career. 

While she is generally known for her fashion photographs and association with fashion designer Pierre Cardin, the new exhibition, Looking at Paris (1955-1987), is much more interested in showing us a complete portrait of an artist who escapes every definition.

Alberto Giacometti et Annette, 1964, Courtesy Pierre Pelegry © Yoshi Takata

Across the selection of original exhibited prints emerges the poetic gaze through which Yoshi Takata captured her Parisian life - which she chose until the end of her life in 2009 - along with the great artists, writers and political figures of the time, usually portrayed around dinner tables or in their studios. 

Religieuses au jardin du Luxembourg, 1958, Courtesy Pierre Pelegry © Yoshi Takata

Through an elegant simplicity and a light sense of humor, Yoshi Takata brings us back to those golden years - to a golden Paris - reminding us that magic is in the eye of the beholder and that sometimes it only lasts a few moments. In fact, in all of Yoshi Takata’s pictures, it is the unexpected which makes her pictures so real, romantic, fictitious and modern at the same time. 

Pierre Cardin collection, 1966, Courtesy Pierre Pelegry © Yoshi Takata

Pierre Cardin said “Yoshi Takata is a sensitive, discreet and endearing individual who understands when to listen and yet knows how to see. Her photos capture the silence of life through her eyes; her talent reflects her inner self”. There could not be a more accurate way to describe the work of this great photographer. 

The exhibition, Looking at Paris (1955 - 1987), will run until April 26. For more information on the current exhibition, please visit their website here.

Photo Editor: Nikhita Samala