Photography: "a rare multiple"

Conversation moderated by Bill Ewing, honorary director of the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, with François Paviot, gallerist and teacher, and Jonas Tebib, photography consultant and advisor.

Faced with the multiple realities of prints, how can we understand the notion of original photography in both historical and market terms? What is vintage? a question that sums up this conversation, which will also look beyond silver prints to contemporary photography. 

William Wegman, Unflatable Headwear, 1990 - Courtesy Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois

Holder of a DEA in letters, teacher, director with Alain Paviot of the eponymous gallery, Françoise Paviot has also held numerous commissariats and symposia. Editor-in-chief of Interphotothèque Actualités and then of Coursives at the Centre Georges Pompidou, she led an inter-ministerial committee that set up the policy for the management of photographic collections in France. She has signed, among others, Analysis of the still image, You said photography, Paris in celebration, Emeric Feher: to life in the image, Geometry in space and, with Daniel Rouvier, We were five at the Musée Réattu.

Jonas joined Sotheby’s auction house in 2016 as the Director of the Photographs department in Paris and has organized the sale of several prestigious Photographs collections in Paris such a Estelle& Hervé Frances, Syz Collection, Lorenz Bäumer, Paolo Roversi and other important European collections.

Since 2023, acting as an independent Senior Photography Specialist, Jonas is advising major collectors and institutions on buying and selling photographs and curating several exhibitions in galleries and institutions in Europe.

William A. Ewing is an author, photography curator, and former museum director. Formerly the Director of Exhibitions at the International Center for Photography, New York, and the Director of the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, he has curated exhibitions seen at hundreds of museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, and many others. Over the years he has published dozens of books with Thames & Hudson, Rizzoli, Actes Sud, Steidl and a number of other publishing houses. Among these titles are The Body; Edward Steichen: Lives in photography; Civilization: The Way We Live Now; Edward Burtynsky: Essential Elements; and William Wegman: Being Human. For over a decade he taught the history of photography at the University of Geneva. He is the recipient of the Royal Photographic Society’s Outstanding Service to Photography Award, and is an Officer in the France’s Order of Arts & Letters.