Quentin Bajac (born 1965) is a French museum curator and art historian specialising in the

history of photography The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

. He is the director of the

Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume Jeu de Paume ( en, Real Tennis Court) is an arts centre for modern and postmodern photography and media. It is located in the north corner (west side) of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. In 2004, Galerie Nationale ...

in Paris. Bajac has held positions at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

(1995–2003),

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

(2003–2010),

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in ...

and

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admission is ...

(2010–2013) and

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MoMA) (2013–2018). He has published a number of works on photography, most notably the three-volume series——on the history of photography (2000–2010), which belongs to the

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an editorial collection of illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in pocket format. The books are concise introductions to pa ...

'', as well as ''Parr by Parr: Discussions with a Promiscuous Photographer'' (2011), ''Stephen Shore: Solving Pictures'' (2017), ''Being Modern: MoMA in Paris'' (co-author with Olivier Michelon, 2017). In 2013 Bajac was made a Chevalier (knight) of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

Career

After gaining a

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

of the

Institut national du patrimoine French national institute of cultural heritage, called Institut national du patrimoine (Inp), is the only academy in France in charge of the training of both curators and conservators. It belongs to French Ministry of Culture and is organized in ...

, Bajac was appointed Curator of Photography at the

in 1995 before joining the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2003, where he has been an associate curator in the Photography Department. In 2010, he was appointed Head of the at the

, and a professor at the

. In January 2013, he was appointed The Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator of Photography at the

(MoMA) in New York City. Bajac remained in that post at MoMA until becoming director of the

in Paris in November 2018. Bajac has curated various exhibitions on 19th-century and contemporary photography, in particular, he organised (1998), (1999), (2000), (2000), (2003), ''William Klein'' (2005), (2009), and (2012). As the chief curator of photography at MoMA, he organised ''A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio'' (2014), ''Scenes for a New Heritage: Contemporary Art from the Collection'' (2015), and ''Stephen Shore'' (2018).

Honours

* Chevalier (knight) of the

(2013)

series

* ''L'image révélée : L'invention de la photographie'', coll. «

» (nº 414), série Arts. Paris: Gallimard, 2001 ** US edition – ''The Invention of Photography'', "

Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, Wi ...

" series. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002 ** UK edition – ''The Invention of Photography: The First Fifty Years'', ‘

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

’ series. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002 * ''La photographie : L'époque moderne 1880-1960'', coll. « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 473), série Arts. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 * ''Après la photographie ? : De l'argentique à la révolution numérique'', coll. « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 559), série Arts. Paris: Gallimard, 2010

Publications

* ''L'ABCdaire du Musée d'Orsay'', Flammarion, 1999 * ''Tableaux vivants. Fantaisies photographiques victoriennes, 1840-1880'', Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999 * With Alain Sayag & Martine d'Astier, ''Lartigue : l'album d'une vie, 1894-1986'', 2003 * With Christian Caujolle, ''The Abrams Encyclopedia of Photography'', Harry N. Abrams, 2004 * With

Clément Chéroux Clément Chéroux (born 1970) is a French photography historian and curator. He is Chief Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He has also held senior curatorial positions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and at the ...

, ''Collection photographies : une histoire de la photographie à travers les collections du Centre Pompidou'', Musée national d'art moderne, coédition Centre Pompidou/Steidl, 2007 * With C. Chéroux, ''La subversion des images : surréalisme, photographie, film'', Éd. du Centre Pompidou, 2009 * ''Le corps en éclats'', Éd. du Centre Pompidou, 2009 * ''Miroslav Tichy'', Éd. du Centre Pompidou, 2009 * ''La photographie, du daguerréotype au numérique'', coll. « Découvertes Gallimard Hors série ». Paris: Gallimard, 2010 * C. Chéroux ed., with

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

, ''Man Ray : Portraits : Paris - Hollywood - Paris'', Éd. du Centre Pompidou, 2010 ** ''Man Ray: Portraits : Paris, Hollywood, Paris : from the Man Ray Archives of the Centre Pompidou'', Prestel Pub, 2011 * With

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

, ''Le mélange des genres'', Textuel, 2010 * ''Parr by Parr: Quentin Bajac Meets Martin Parr : Discussions with a Promiscuous Photographer'', Schilt, 2010 * ''Mimmo Jodice. Les Yeux du Louvre'', Paris/Arles, coéd. Musée du Louvre/Actes Sud, 2011 * With , ''Brassaï, le flaneur nocturne'', Gallimard, 2012 * ''Robert Doisneau : « Pêcheur d'images »'', coll. «

» (nº 581), série Arts. Paris: Gallimard, 2012 * With Olivier Michelon, ''Being Modern: MoMA in Paris'', Thames & Hudson, 2017 * ''Stephen Shore: Solving Pictures'', Thames & Hudson, 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bajac, Quentin Living people 1965 births French curators French art historians Historians of photography 21st-century French essayists École du Louvre alumni Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres