The photographer of femininity: Bettina Rheimso

Bettina Rheims was born on December 18, 1952 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She is She comes from a family of Alsatian Jews and is the granddaughter of General Léon Rheims. She is also related to the branch of the Rothschild family. She continued her studies at the Victor Duruy high school before becoming friends with Nicole Wisniak. But she was expelled from her high school after having sewn a head died during a sewing class. She decides to start out as a artist photographer in 1978.

These first subjects are acrobats and a striptease group which allowed him to make his first performances. Undeniably, his favorite subject begins at that time. to take shape: the feminine model. Throughout his career, this subject will be a real common thread. During the 1980s, she produced numerous portraits of famous women which she brought together in a work « Female Trouble ».

Quick recognition from 1982

Indeed, the year 1982 was particularly significant for this photographer. She published the series « Animal ». This time, the photographies focus on another form nudity. More precisely stuffed animals, because she is attracted by their fixed gaze. For her, it is an expression beyond of death that she wishes to capture through her photographs.

During this same period, she multiplied the artistic creations to new heights. through record covers for big names in French song such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Julien Clerc, Bernard Lavilliers, France Gall or even Johnny Hallyday . The singer Desireless calls on his services for the design of his music video Voyage, Voyage in 1986.

From the 1989s, she wondered about transsexuality. and androgyny with its work « Modern Lovers ». She remained on the same theme in 1992 with her work « The Spies » and in 1994 with « Kim ».

The turning point of the 1990s

Rheims is working on a major work which she entitles « closed room ». If we speak of a turning point, it is because she begins her collaboration with Serge Bramly, the famous novelist. Thus sees the birth of a work in which the writer's story is mixed with his photographs.

The « closed room » are a form of parody of the first pornographic illustrations. For this, she uses a simplistic decor with worn walls and wallpaper in poor condition. But for the artiste it is above all a question of using models not professionals by highlighting eroticism by creating a certain form of confusion for their audience.

It is necessary to underline the extreme quality of this article. prints and the intelligent use of color giving the impression that the flesh is alive. The result is absolutely disconcerting with remarkable realism. Rheims succeeds in express all of femininity primitive in his work while also seeking to express more or less repressed impulses.

Impulses that the artist succeeds in fulfilling. capture thanks to his film. In 1995, Jacques Chirac decided to invite Bettina Rheims to following his presidential campaign to work on photos retracing his path to the election. It was also this artist who produced his official portrait. She subsequently declared that she wanted to give a relaxed look to President Chirac by drawing inspiration from the greatest heroes of the western period.

In 1999, the INRI exhibition completed its works of the decade by collaborating once again with the novelist Serge Bramly. It is a philosophical dialogue tracing back to both the life of Jesus Christ, but also key religious moments such as the annunciation and the ascension. The theme revolves around the crucifixion. But his photographs are undeniably in the spirit of the times and that is why his photographs have been taken from the same perspective as if Jesus returned today.

Rheims and the 2000s

In 2002, Bettina Rheims traveled several times to Paris. Shanghai and she decided to produce a series on this theme. Three years later, an exhibition was held at the Noirmont gallery entitled « heroines ». His artistic work pays homage to sculpture and she began a first collaboration with Jean Colonna, a renowned creator. His work consists of: dress women using original clothing by revisiting old fashions of haute couture dresses and juxtaposing them with new styles. contemporary icons.

In 2010, she renewed her collaboration with Serge Bramly for the exhibition " Rose, it’s Paris " the National Library of France. The entire plot is a fiction imagined by the two people using autobiographical elements. The City of Paris takes on the role of the muse and symbolic characters are used to characterize the story in an allegorical way.

Questioning gender

Since the 1990s, Bettina Rheims has been interested in humankind. She decides to take up this theme again. Düsseldorf to through the series « Gender ». She produced a total of 27 portraits of young women and men who were completely unknown after a call she launched. on Facebook. To do this, she obviously uses photography, but also extracts from interviews to make her exhibition more realistic. Four years later, in March 2016, she held an exhibition at the European house of photography.

In 2018, she became interested in women prisoners and created an exhibition, known as « inmates ». The first takes place at Saint Chapelle de Vincennes and the second in proximity from Bordeaux.

In total, she created more than 230,000 works which she bequeathed in their entirety to the the Lille Institute for Photography. Bettina Rheims continues to take photos as if they were real ceremonies. His artistic sense is immediately identifiable and these reverential images have now become iconic.