Enfin seules: Photographs from the Archive of Modern Conflict

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean presents Enfin seules (alone at last), a selection of over two hundred images from the Archive of Modern Conflict. Established in London in 1992, the Archive of Modern Conflict describes itself as “a repository for the lost and forgotten stories that lie hidden in the photographic record.”

Initially focusing “on conflict, it has grown into something more resembling a laboratory than a traditional archive.” Today it is one of the largest collections of photography in the world, comprising over eight million images and producing books and exhibitions that span a multitude of genres.

Presenting photographs from across several continents and a period that extends from the early history of the medium in the mid-19th century to the 1970s, Enfin seules offers a fresh look at the photography of the natural world. The exhibition draws upon recent and historical prints to imagine a world where all human and animal life disappeared from Earth.

Conceived as an immersive environment organised around a central, cavernous space, the galleries are wallpapered with photographs from the Archive. Images of flora, fungi, tree-trunks, ferns, roots, stalagmites and aurorae are enlarged to form a panorama of plants, rocks and light that provides the backdrop for an array of recent and historical prints. Spanning several generations of photography and encompassing various processes and techniques, images by renowned artists and photographers as well as figures from the history of botany, astronomy, mathematics and science are presented alongside those of amateur enthusiasts or unknown figures.

The exhibition is conceived by the Archive of Modern Conflict for Mudam on the occasion of Rethinking Nature / Rethinking Landscape, the 8th edition of the European Month of Photography Luxembourg.

Exhibition Concept: Timothy Prus (Archive of Modern Conflict)
Curators: Timothy Prus (assisted by Ed Jones, Luce Lebart, Giulia Shah and Michelle Wilson) and Michelle Cotton (assisted by Sarah Beaumont and Christophe Gallois).

The exhibition includes photographs by Anna Atkins (b. 1799, Tonbridge, Kent; d. 1871, Halstead, Kent), Brassaï (b. 1899, Brașov, Romania; d. 1984, Beaulieu-sur-Mer), Amelia Elizabeth Gimingham (b. 1833, London; d. 1918, Axbridge, Somerset), Conrad Theodore Green (b. 1863, Kirkburton, West Yorkshire; d. 1940, Birkenhead, Merseyside), Bertha Jaques (b. 1863, Covington, Ohio; d. 1941, Chicago), Lee Miller (b. 1907, Poughkeepsie, New York; d. 1977, Chiddingly, East Sussex), Charles Nègre (b. 1820; d. 1880, Grasse), Ferdinand Quénisset (b. 1872, Paris; d. 1951, Juvisy-sur-Orge), Jaroslav Rössler (b. 1902, Smilov, Czech Republic; d. 1990, Prague), Fredrik Carl Mülertz Størmer (b. 1874, Skien, Norway; d. 1957, Oslo), Josef Sudek (b. 1896, Kolín, Czech Republic; d. 1976, Prague), Graham Sutherland (b. 1903; d. 1980, London), Shikanosuke Yagaki (b. 1897, Kyoto; d. 1966, unknown place), among others.

Also on view  
William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance through August 30, 2021 
Online platform: Me, Family through June 30, 2021 
Mudam Collection: Portrait of a Young Planet  through September 13, 2021 
Leonor Antunes: joints, voids and gaps through November 14, 2021  
Mudam Collection: 25 years of the Mudam Collection through April 18, 2022

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean opened in 2006 in a purpose-built building designed by the renowned Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and is located in the Park Draï Eechelen, overlooking the historic city of Luxembourg. Through its collection, exhibitions, artistic and educational programmes and partnerships, Mudam Luxembourg aims to advance its mission to present the most relevant contemporary art of our time to the largest possible public.