Tina Barney

Zander Galerie Paris is delighted to present its upcoming exhibition dedicated to Tina Barney’s early black-and-white photographs. Rediscovered by the artist while revisiting her archives during the pandemic, these rarely seen works offer an intimate portrait of American East Coast society in the late 1970s.

Born in 1945, Tina Barney began photographing family and friends in the settings of their everyday lives. Deeply attached to the customs and traditions that shaped her world, she sought to preserve them through photography, conscious that they might otherwise fade from memory.

The six works on view belong to an early chapter of her practice. Made during summers spent in Rhode Island, they reveal a spontaneous approach that the artist has described as “loose sketches a painter might use to plan for a larger painting.” In these photographs, Barney embraced the immediacy of the snapshot. Black and white allowed her to concentrate on the material qualities of the image, bringing fabrics, hair, glass and atmospheric effects into sharp focus. Faces often remain outside the frame, directing attention instead to gestures, clothing and posture. Suits, white dresses and carefully arranged hairstyles become markers of belonging and social identity.