Exhibitions on at Polka Gallery and a video preview of the legendary magazine's latest issue

The most recent issue #17 of POLKA magazine (founded in 2007) features none other than Marilyn Monroe on the cover, photographed by the legendary photographer Eve Arnold, who passed away in January 2012.

However, this is but one of many reasons that makes this French magazine so unique. Its caption reads ‘Le magazine du photojournalisme’ - and it certainly does what it says on the tin: ranging from the presidential election campaigns in France to Fukushima, Cuba and a 'Helmut Newton Special' (see: GoSee article on the exhibition at the Grand Palais) and right back to Paris and the 'Front National'.

In addition to the publication, there is a POLKA gallery on the Rue St. Gilles in Paris. You can access the gallery and its showroom via a small and inconspicuous bridge, where you will also find the editors' office and the books' POS.

A handful of works are being exhibited here – the most famous and widely known being Elliot Erwitt and 'Sequentially Yours, Elliot Erwitt'. Plus Catherine Balet with 'Strangers in the Light', Sara Imloul and her 'Black Circus' as well as Paulette Tavormina's wonderful works in 'Natura Morta'.

We produced a small overview-clip in the gallery and also brought home a couple of shots from the exhibition … all to be enjoyed right here on GoSee.

Quote: "To be Elliott you need to have (1) an exquisite instinct, not only of the moment, but what might happen in the very next moment, (2) a sympathetic but clear-eyed view of the world as an endless series of mini-comedies and dramas [...] You also need to have been born in Paris of émigré Russian-Jewish parents, rushed our of Italy to avoid Mussolini, raised in California, speak at least four languages, and be self-effacing to the point of transparency. [...] In Sequentially Yours, Elliott has created a new form, somewhere between single exposures and film. We film directors need thousands of images - 24 of them each second, in fact – to tell our stories. Elliott has reduced that to, mostly, two or three."

Marshall Brickman (Woody Allen's faithful scriptwriter) in "Sequentially Yours, Elliott Erwitt" published by Te Neues in 2011.


Polka Gallery
12 rue Saint Gilles, 75003 Paris
polkagalerie.com
polkamagazine.com
Tue - Sat 11 am - 7.30 pm