The Chandigarh Government Museum and Art Gallery recently celebrated the World Heritage Day and marked the launch of “Tender Concrete” – a photography exhibition featuring 16 stunning photographs captured by Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India.
The esteemed Chief Guest, Shri Dharam Pal, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, inaugurated the exhibition which celebrates Lenain’s personal and subjective approach to photography. His photographs capture the beauty of concrete architecture, emphasizing on Chandigarh’s architectural marvels.
“I am not among those left aghast by Brutalism. Quite the contrary: concrete, when handled by the greatest architects, has always seemed tender to me. It allows for sensual and dizzying curves, the alternation of empty and full, a plunge into solitude and reverie. Concrete allows for a constant, almost musical tension: rectangle contrasts with curve, sharp edges with softened pro les, static with uid, rest with movement. Here and there, buildings of strict verticality and horizontality contrast with the freedom of a curved ramp. And, as is often the case, a certain harmony emerges from opposites,” Lenain mentioned in his official news release.
Lenain’s photographs showcase architectural details that, when taken out of context, acquire a poetic dimension. The exhibition harmoniously blends buildings of strict verticality and horizontality with the freedom of a curved ramp which is no less than an absolute marvel!
While emphasizing on Chandigarh’s architectural spectacle, Lenain elaborated, “There is nowhere better than Chandigarh – the Indian graft of this international style with powerful symbolism – for finding more matter for architectural reverie. India has been a formidable field for modernist architecture. Nowhere except maybe in Brasilia with Oscar Niemeyer has carte blanche been given to an architect to build a full city from scratch as Le Corbusier did in Chandigarh. That’s why I wanted to devote an exhibition only to these buildings. I did not want to follow the documentary genre but a personal subjective approach. A photograph of architecture is not necessarily a topographical survey: it can be the expression of an emotion,”
What: Photo exhibition ‘Tender Concrete’ by Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India
Date: Ongoing till June 30 (all days except Mondays and gazette holidays)
Location: Govt. Museum & Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh
Timing: 10 a.m. to 4:30 pm
Lenain’s ‘Tender Concrete’ exhibition is open to the public from April 18 to June 30, except on Mondays and gazette holidays, between 10 am to 4:30 pm. Lenain’s work invites viewers to discover the captivating allure of concrete architecture, as seen through the lens of this celebrated photographer.
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