Focus

Bettina Rheims

Willing to give

Bettina Rheims, My Life
Naked War
Gender Studies

Edito

French photographer Bettina Rheims questions femininity, fantasies and female sexuality through an imposing body of work, from advertising commercials to museum walls.

An instinctive work, It is both very elaborate and nourished by artistic culture. A free spirit, she borrows as much from the "female gaze" as the male, from Diane Arbus as much as Helmut Newton. Her work won't be locked up: it disturbs.

Whether photographing Charlotte Rampling, Madonna, Naomi Campbell, anonymous prisoners, Femen, (or even Jacques Chirac!) her photographs become iconic.

Modern icons who set up their models as gods (and often as fallen goddesses of Olympus, somewhat the worse for wear).

Ever since Modern Lovers, her pioneering work has approached non-gendered sensualities.
Above all she shows bodies transcended by desire.

At the heart of this special edition, the films My Life, Femen. Naked War and Gender Studies take us into the world of Bettina Rheims. She also returns in an exclusive interview for Darkroom Rumour on her recent projects. Serge Bramly, director of Rose, c’est Paris, writer and photographic specialist revisits Bettina Rheims' founding years.

The Films

43’

Bettina Rheims, My Life

From conception to print: Bettina Rheims' photographic legacy.

This film will take you behind the scenes of Bettina Rheims' creation. During a shoot, we discover the photographer consulting with her model. As the first prints come back, her eye scrutinizes the slightest nuance that couldn't serve beauty, the most important thing in her work.
Bettina Rheims looks back on her initiation in photography, her first camera, her first series, professional tips. Her companion in creation, writer Serge Bramly, points to "the extraordinary and permanent renewal" of Bettina's work.

Access the film info sheet

BETTINA-RHEIMS-THE-FEMEN-NAKED-WAR-A-DOCUMENTARY-FILM-BY-SOPHIE-BRAMLY-ON-THE-DARKROOM-RUMOUR-5

22’

Bettina Rheims |Naked War : Femen

Behind the scenes: The artistic journey of Femen with Rheims.

This film will blow you away in the hurricane of Femen and its representatives, come from all over the world to be photographed by Bettina Rheims. From their political commitment to their actions (not forgetting their image), we get to know them and discover a prolific dialogue with the work of the “photographer of femininity".
During the shoot, they strip naked and present their bodily slogans, which have become works of art.

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7’

Bettina Rheims | Gender Studies

Challenging norms: A cinematic journey into gender fluidity.

This surprising film will take you on a journey around the bodies photographed by Bettina Rheims for her "Gender Studies" series, bodies which refuse to choose between the genders on offer. The photographer sublimates them at the same time as she captures their confusion.
We hear their multiple voices, free and rare, as an echo.

Access the film info sheet

Dive Behind the Scenes of Photography!

Remember the first time you held a camera, that thrill of capturing a one-of-a-kind moment... Relive that magic, dive into the wonders of photography, uncover its secrets, and fuel your inspiration with an exceptional collection of documentary films and original creations, complemented by exclusive articles, interviews, and a wealth of resources that invite you to observe the world from a fresh perspective.

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Linked Articles

Fragments : an interview with Bettina Rheims

by Bettina Rheims

Fragments : an interview with Bettina Rheims

linked to Bettina Rheims, My Life

Bettina Rheims talks to Emmanuel Bacquet about her inspirations, her creative process and her artistic evolution. Learn how her projects, from the Gender Studies series to portraits of incarcerated women, reflect a growing commitment and an ongoing quest to capture the essence of her subjects, transcending the conventions of photography.

by Serge Bramly

Bettina Rheims (by Serge Bramly)

linked to Bettina Rheims, My Life

How to define what photography is, what distinguishes it from its elders, painting, engraving, drawing (to which it was for a long time subservient) or, if you'd rather, what constitutes this specific mode of representation? When Bettina Rheims began her career in the late 1970s, only a small number of books were devoted to photography and the question remained embryonic, possibly unformulated. A few studies were beginning to surface, such as Susan Sontag's; Barthes had not yet published Camera Lucida; rare were the monographs that allowed us to tackle a coherent set of works. In a way it was a new age of pioneers, both for artists and for galleries, and the public and private collections that were gradually emerging.

Further exploration

• DÉTENUES - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen ; introduction: Robert Badinter ; 2018 ; Gallimard ; French

• BETTINA RHEIMS: CO - directed by Patrick Remy ; 2017 ; Taschen ; multilingual

• GENDER STUDIES - artist: Bettina Rheims ; 2014 ; Steidl Verlag

• ROSE, C’EST PARIS - authors: Bettina Rheims, Serge Bramly and Thierry Grillet ; exhibition catalogue presented at the Bibliothèque nationale de France ; 2010 ; Taschen France ; trilingual edition

• CHAMBRE CLOSE - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 2007 ; Schirmer Mosel

• OXYMORIQUE, LES PHOTOGRAPHIES DE BETTINA RHEIMS - author: Michel Onfray ; 2005 ; Jannink Eds ; French

• SHANGHAÏ - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 2004 ; PowerHouse Books

• FEMALE TROUBLE - artist: Bettina Rheims ; introduction: Catherine Deneuve ; 2002 ; Schirmer Mosel

• I.N.R.I. - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 1999 ; The Monacelli Press

• ANIMAL - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 1998 ; Gina Kehayoff Verlag

• MODERN LOVERS - artist: Bettina Rheims ; 1998 ; Edition Braus

5 Lessons in Gender Subversion from Photographer Bettina Rheims - Sleek Article

The Female Gaze - Podcast Dior by Charlotte Jansen

Women of Bettina Rheims - Vogue Article

Naked War by Bettina Rheims - Femen Official Blog

5 Lessons in Gender Subversion from Photographer Bettina Rheims - Sleek Article