James Barnor

Biographie
View works. James Barnor, Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra, c. 1974
Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra, c. 1974
Voir les œuvres

Né en 1929 au Ghana, James Barnor ouvre son célèbre studio Ever Young à Accra, où il immortalise une nation au moment de son indépendance. Il est l’un des premiers photojournalistes à collaborer avec le Daily Graphic, un journal publié au Ghana par le London Daily Mirror Group. En 1959, deux ans après l’indépendance du Ghana, James Barnor part pour Londres, afin d’approfondir ses connaissances techniques du médium. Il découvre la photographie couleur au Medway College of Art et ses photos sont publiées en première page de Drum, un important magazine fondé en Afrique du Sud en 1951 et symbole du mouvement anti-apartheid. Il saisit avec éloquence l’esprit du Swinging London et les expériences de la diaspora africaine dans la capitale. Vers la fin des années 1960, il est recruté par Agfa-Gevaert et retourne au Ghana pour mettre en place le premier laboratoire couleur du pays. Il y reste pendant les vingts années suivantes, travaillant dans son nouveau studio X23 en tant que photographe indépendant et pour des agences d’État à Accra. Aujourd’hui, James Barnor vit au Royaume-Uni et consacre la majeure partie de son temps à son travail, dans un esprit de transmission.

Le travail de James Barnor a donné lieu ces dernières années à de nombreuses expositions et publications, parmi lesquelles une rétrospective itinérante curatée par Hans Ulrich-Obrist en 2021 à la Serpentine Gallery. Elle a ensuite voyagé en 2022 au MASI Lugano, en Suisse et sera présentée en 2023 au Detroit Institute of Art, MI, USA. Une autre exposition curatée par Matthieu Humery, James Barnor: Stories, Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), a ouvert à la Fondation LUMA en juillet 2022. Cette exposition a été marquée par le lancement du Prix James Barnor, dédié aux photographes Africains. En octobre 2023, James Barnor, Studio of Life a ouvert au FOMU Anvers, en Belgique.

Coïncidant avec le 95e anniversaire du photographe, le festival James Barnor 95 s'est ouvert à Accra et à Tamale en mai 2024, avec un programme célébrant l'héritage de Barnor et la scène artistique culturelle ghanéenne.

 

EXPOSITIONS (SÉLECTION)

2026 Africa Fashion, Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris, France 

2025 Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, MoMA, New-York, USA

2025 Photography and the Black Arts Movement, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

2025 Ritratti, Collection Florence & Damien Bachelot, Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento italiano, Turin, Italie 

2025 Africa Fashion, McCord Stewart Museum, Montréal, Québec, Canada

2025 Image Vevey, Vevey, Switzerland 

2025 Africa Fashion, The Field Museum, Chicago, USA 

2024 Africa Fashion, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

2024 James Barnor 95 Festival (multiple venues) Dikan Library, Accra; Nuku Studio, Tamale; Red Clay & SCCA, Tamale; Institute Museum of Ghana, Accra; Ghana Club, Accra; outdoor exhibition in Jamestown, Accra (29.05.2024 - ongoing) 

2023 Africa Fashion, Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA

2023 James Barnor, Studio of Life, FOMU, Antwerp, BE

2023 Africa Fashion, Brooklyn Museum, New-York, USA

2022-23 James Barnor, Stories: Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), LUMA Foundation, Arles, FR

2022 Africa Fashion, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

2022 Ever Young, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, KR

2022 10 years !, anniversary exhibition (collective), Galerie Clémentine de la Feronnière, Paris, France

2021 James Barnor - The Roadmaker, Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, FR

2021-23 James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Serpentine North Gallery, London, UK

Museo d’Arte della Svizzera Italiana (MASI), Lugano, Switzerland (13.03.2022 - 31.07.2022)

Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Detroit, MI, USA (28.05.2023 - 01.10.2023)
2021 James Barnor: Ghanaian Modernist, Bristol Photo Festival, City Museum of Bristol, UK
2019 James Barnor - A retrospective, Nubuke Foundation, Accra, GH
2019 Paris-Londres, Music Migrations (1962-1989), (exposition collective) Musée de la Porte Dorée, Paris, FR

2017 Ever Young, musée du quai Branly, Paris, FR
2017-22 La Vie selon James Barnor/Life According to James Barnor - Touring exhibition

11ème Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali.
Mupho, Musée de la Photographie, Saint Louis, Sénégal (2018); Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2018); IF Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud (2020); CCF Windhoek, Namibie (2021), AF Lusaka, Zambie (2022) To be continued in AF Gaborone, Botswana; AF Durban; AF Port-Elizabeth; AF Potchefstroom;

2012 Another London (exposition collective), Tate Britain, Londres, GB
2010 Ever Young: James Barnor (exposition itinérante) Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, Londres, GB

W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, Boston, (MA) USA (2010)
South African National Gallery, Capetown (2012); Impressions Gallery, York, GB (2013); Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris (2015); BAND Gallery, Toronto, CA (2016)

2007 Mr Barnor’s Independence Diaries, Black Cultural Archives, Londres, GB

 

COLLECTIONS

Bristol Museum, Bristol, GB
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR

Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, USA
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA

FOMU, Anvers, BE

Fondation LUMA, Arles, FR/Zürich, CH
Guggenheim Museum, Abu Dhabi, AEU
MASI Lugano, CH
MoMA, New York, USA

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MI, USA
musée du quai Branly, Paris, FR
National Portrait Gallery, Londres, GB

New Orleans Museum of Art, LA, USA

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, USA
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, (IL) USA

Tate, Londres, GB
Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres, GB

 

MONOGRAPHIES

James Barnor, Photopoche/Photofile, Actes Sud, 2023

James Barnor, Stories. Le Portfolio (1947-1987), LUMA Foundation/Maison CF/RRB Photobooks, 2022

James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Koenig Books/Serpentine Galleries, 2021

The Roadmaker, Maison CF/RRB Photobooks 2021 2015 Ever Young, Autograph ABP/Clémentine de la Féronnière, 2021

Télécharger le CV de l'artiste (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Œuvres
  • Roy Ankrah at work, Accra
    Roy Ankrah at work, Accra
  • Self-portrait with a store assistant at the West African Drug Company, central Accra
    Self-portrait with a store assistant at the West African Drug Company, central Accra
  • The first client of the Ever Young Studio after its installation in Jamestown (an undergraduate student at the University of Ghana, Legon), Accra
    The first client of the Ever Young Studio after its installation in Jamestown (an undergraduate student at the University of Ghana, Legon), Accra
  • A member of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) at a political rally in Kumasi (central Ghana)
    A member of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) at a political rally in Kumasi (central Ghana)
  • The Nigerian Superman, a renowned performer in Mantse Agbona, Jamestown, Accra
    The Nigerian Superman, a renowned performer in Mantse Agbona, Jamestown, Accra
  • Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London (Trainer Angelo Dundee and coach Eddie Futch), Earl's Court, London, August 1966
    Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London (Trainer Angelo Dundee and coach Eddie Futch), Earl's Court, London, August 1966
  • Drum cover girl Erlin Ibreck stepping out of a Jaguar in Kilburn, London
    Drum cover girl Erlin Ibreck stepping out of a Jaguar in Kilburn, London
  • Rosemarie “Funflower” Thompson posing for Drum at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Rosemarie “Funflower” Thompson posing for Drum at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Photoshoot with Erlin Ibreck at Campbell- Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Photoshoot with Erlin Ibreck at Campbell- Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Constance Mulondo, a student and singer from Uganda, aka “Cool Constance”, posing for the cover of Drum magazine at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Constance Mulondo, a student and singer from Uganda, aka “Cool Constance”, posing for the cover of Drum magazine at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Self-portrait with a model during James Barnor’s training at the Agfa-Gevaert laboratory in Mortsel, Belgium
    Self-portrait with a model during James Barnor’s training at the Agfa-Gevaert laboratory in Mortsel, Belgium
  • Close-up portrait of Mr Sammy Tetteh’s secretary, Accra
    Close-up portrait of Mr Sammy Tetteh’s secretary, Accra
  • Sick Hagemeyer shop assistant as a seventies icon posing in front of the United Trading Company headquarters, Accra
    Sick Hagemeyer shop assistant as a seventies icon posing in front of the United Trading Company headquarters, Accra
  • Model posing for the 1974 Agip calendar, Accra,
    Model posing for the 1974 Agip calendar, Accra,
  • Filling up the Studio X23 car at the Agip petrol station for its 1974 calendar, Accra
    Filling up the Studio X23 car at the Agip petrol station for its 1974 calendar, Accra
  • Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London
    Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London
  • James Barnor’s studio assistant stepping out of the darkroom, Studio X23
    James Barnor’s studio assistant stepping out of the darkroom, Studio X23
  • “Baby on All Fours”, Eric Nii Addoquaye Ankrah, Ever Young Studio, Accra
    “Baby on All Fours”, Eric Nii Addoquaye Ankrah, Ever Young Studio, Accra
  • Selina Opong, one of the first policewomen in Ghana, caught in a pensive pose, Ever Young Studio
    Selina Opong, one of the first policewomen in Ghana, caught in a pensive pose, Ever Young Studio
  • The “Ghanaian Indian”, after a fashion show, Ever Young Studio
    The “Ghanaian Indian”, after a fashion show, Ever Young Studio
  • A wedding guest in the park behind the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Accra
    A wedding guest in the park behind the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Accra
  • Sophia Salomon, daughter of James Barnor’s landlady, Tip Toe area, Kokomlemle, Accra
    Sophia Salomon, daughter of James Barnor’s landlady, Tip Toe area, Kokomlemle, Accra
  • Margaret Obiri-Yeboah, a friend of James Barnor outside the Sick Hagemeyer store, Accra
    Margaret Obiri-Yeboah, a friend of James Barnor outside the Sick Hagemeyer store, Accra
  • Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra
    Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra
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