Divided into eight themes) and the colour works ("Kolor"), the exhibition invites you to discover the multi-faceted artist and his work. His work is structured along two axes. One is the distinction between black and white and colour - personal black and white pictures, commissioned colour work: "I don't use colour in my personal work. Colour is a professional matter. My life is complicated enough as it is. I stick to black and white. That's enough." However, if the distinction is intended, it is theoretical: Erwitt, in fact, combined artistic and commercial activity, not without adding his own touch to his commissioned work, which thus acquired an undeniable artistic quality. The other axis is thematic. The themes were defined by Elliott Erwitt himself; you will discover his work the way he intended.

I would say that the most important thing about a photograph is to stir emotions, to make people laugh or cry, or both at the same time.
– Elliott Erwitt

From 21st October 2023 to 17 March 2024 at La Sucrière, Lyon

After a tremendous success at the Musée Maillol in Paris with hundreds of thousands of amused visitors, we are glad to announce the opening of "Elliott Erwitt. A Retrospective" in Lyon, at La Sucrière!

An exhibition conceived and created by Tempora in close collaboration with Magnum Photos and the Musée Maillol.

Exhibition curators: Elie Barnavi, Isabelle Benoit, Peter Logan et Benoît Remiche.


Humanism, irony, humor

The exhibition "Elliott Erwitt. A Retrospective" pays tribute to one of the greatest photographs of the 20th century, member of Magnum Photos since 1954. The exhibition presents his work through a collection of 215 black and white and color photographs.

An American photographer of European descent, Elliott Erwitt is a multi-faceted artist: he’s at the same time a painter of intimacy, a photojournalist, a commercial photographer, a film director, and a portrait photographer of famous personalities such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Alfred Hitchcock, Nikita Khrushchev... He captures moments of everyday life with a perspective that belongs only to him and combines humor and emotion.