THIS SIDE OF PARADISE: LOS ANGELES (1865-2008) «Imagine Marilyn Monroe, fifty miles long, lying on her side, half-buried on a ridge of crumbling rock, the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, with chaparral, flowers and snakes writhing over her body, and mists, smog, or dreams gathering in every curve. You'd need a certain height to recognize that intricate course as a body. But that's Mulholland Drive... It's about as long as on old movie, and as full of scents and half-grasped fears as Marilyn's drowsy state. » -David Thomson The body and the landscape, inextricably, sensuously intertwined - two themes which run through this multifaceted ‘portrait' of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: City of Angels... and Demons. For the lucky few, the beautiful, the well-born, a utopia - endless sunshine, beaches and swimming pools, peopled by vigorous, healthy bodies; for many others, a dystopia - endless, clogged freeways, smog, fearfulness, a city without a center, or (it is sometimes said), a soul. In the skies above, glittering Hollywood stars; on the hard pavements below, ever-present terror of earthquake and social unrest. Dream or nightmare? Fact or fiction? Perhaps the truth of this quixotic, haunting place lies somewhere between the perceived extremes. This complex, sprawling city has long fascinated photographers of many stripes: studio professionals, industrial photographers, photojournalists, fashion and glamour photographers, amateurs, tourists and art photographers. The exhibition offers the widest possible range of these approaches. It features more than a hundred famous and unknown photographers who together have documented, imagined, celebrated, criticized and mythologized the city from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. There are seven sections to the exhibition: Garden, Move, Work, Dwell, Play, Clash, and Dream. These sections are meant to help us think about key aspects of life in Los Angeles, aspects which touch everyone, rich or poor, in fundamental ways. However, the seven sections are only meant as a rough guide to the rich pictorial terrain, and viewers are encouraged to strike out on their own journey through the highways and the byways of this compelling city.

L.A. ou si vous préférez Los Angeles, la cité des anges... et des démons. Pour quelques chanceux, L.A. est synonyme de soleil, de plage, de piscine, de corps sains et bronzés. Pour les autres, L.A. n'est souvent qu'une concentration d'autoroutes encombrées, de pollutions et de peurs de toutes sortes. C'est une ville sans centre et sans âme... Là-haut, dans les cieux, règnent les stars d'Hollywood; mais ici-bas, les habitants craignent un nouveau tremblement de terre ou le déclenchement d'émeutes. Rêve ou cauchemar? Réalité ou fiction? La vérité sur ce lieu mythique et fascinant se situe peut-être entre les deux. Los Angeles, ville à multiples facettes, est adorée des photographes de toute tendance et de toute génération. L'exposition en offre un portrait dynamique et comprend un large éventail d'approches photographiques: images prises en studio, documentaires, archives industrielles, reportages; photographies amateur, touristiques et d'art. Les photographes de l'exposition – ils sont une centaine, des grands noms comme des inconnus – documentent, imaginent, célèbrent, critiquent ou mythifient la ville. Le Musée de l'Elysée est la première escale européenne à accueillir cette importante exposition organisée par la Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Californie, et voyageant grâce à Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions (CATE), Pasadena. La circulation de l'exposition a reçu le généreux soutien de la Terra Foundation for American Art. Jennifer A. Watts et Claudia Bohn-Spector sont les commissaires de l'exposition. Le Musée de l'Elysée remercie l'ECAL/Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne de sa précieuse contribution au programme éducatif organisé dans le cadre de l'exposition.