The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and the French May Arts Festival are delighted to announce the opening of the new Special Exhibition The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography to the public from Saturday, March 16, 2024 in the Main Hall Gallery of the museum. Co-presented by M+ and the French May Arts Festival, in collaboration with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), and exclusively sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, it is M+’s first exhibition dedicated to the medium of photography and the opening programme of the French May Arts Festival 2024. The exhibition includes more than 250 significant black-and-white photographs from BnF’s world-renowned collection of photography, complemented by over 30 works drawn from the M+ Collections, examining black-and-white photography as a time-honoured medium of art.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography is a thematic presentation of photographic works dating from 1915 to 2019 and is the first major public exhibition of BnF’s photography collections in Asia. It features over 170 internationally celebrated photographers, including Man Ray, Diane Arbus, Mario Giacomelli, Robert Frank, William Klein, Daido Moriyama, Valérie Belin, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Over 30 works from the M+ Collections will also be showcased, spotlighting how eminent Asian photographers and artists such as Chang Chao-Tang, Fan Ho, Lang Jingshan, Liu Heung Shing, Nalini Malani, Ishimoto Yasuhiro, and Yau Leung transformed this expressive medium.

The three thematic sections of the exhibition offer different perspectives to understand black-and-white image-making over the course of more than a century. “Aiming for Contrast” captures moments of stark opposition in our everyday existence that intensify perceptions of reality. “Light and Shadow” demonstrates how photographers “paint” with light, expressing nuances of texture, mood, and pattern and structure. “Colour Chart” highlights the tonal nuances of grey, which introduce infinite variations to monochrome photography. Looking from the perspectives of black-and-white production as well as approaches to composition, contrast, and light and shadow, the exhibition demonstrates the powerful and creative vivacity of black-and-white photography.

M+ and the French May Arts Festival will co-present a series of Jockey Club Community Outreach and Arts Education Programmes to accompany The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography throughout the exhibition period, including guided photographer-led tours, talks, and conversations. M+ will also host a conversation between Pauline J. Yao, Lead Curator, Visual Art, M+ and Flora Triebel, Curator of 19th-Century Photography, BnF, at The Forum, M+ on March 16 2024. More details will be announced on the M+ website.

This exhibition is co-curated by Sylvie Aubenas (Director, Print and Photography Department, BnF), Héloïse Conésa (Curator, Contemporary Photography, BnF), Flora Triebel (Curator, 19th-Century Photography, BnF), Dominique Versavel (Curator, Modern Photography, BnF), and Pauline. J. Yao (Lead Curator, Visual Art, M+); and assisted by Kary Woo (Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+). The original exhibition, Noir & Blanc: A Photographic Aesthetic, was conceived by the BnF and was presented from October 17, 2023 to January 21, 2024 at the François-Mitterrand site of BnF in Paris.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography is supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as Exclusive Sponsor, together with Cathay as Travel Partner and Manifesto Expo as the Exhibition Coordinator of the exhibition.

In no event shall the Funder have any liability of any kind to any person or entity arising from or related to any actions taken or not taken as a result of any of the contents herein.