Credit: Pol Aschman
Cercle Cité has announced that it is hosting the exhibition "Des gens et des rues - 100 ans Pol Aschman" (people and streets - 100 years of Pol Aschman) at its Ratskeller exhibition space (Rue du Curé in Luxembourg-Ville) from 10 July to 26 September 2021.
The exhibition is organised by the Photothèque of the City of Luxembourg in collaboration with Christian Aschman, photographer and nephew of Luxembourg photojournalist Pol Aschman. Born in 1921, Pol Aschman's career began in 1949. He was best known for his photographs and reports published in the weekly illustrated magazine Revue and in the Luxemburger Wort daily newspaper. He was also the official photographer of the Grand Ducal Court and of the Foires Internationales in Luxembourg, and worked as a freelance photographer for private individuals and different companies in Luxembourg.
The exhibition at Cercle Cité is arranged by themes, such as the Schueberfouer, the Braderie in Luxembourg City, trades, night and street scenes, youth, portraits, still life photos, architecture and the Grand Ducal family.
A set of 44 portraits, Pol Aschman's favourite subject, which can be found throughout his career, is placed at the centre of this exhibition. This series of portraits can be compared to the work of the photographer August Sander (1876-1964), which the latter did in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. The portraits in this series by Pol Aschman are mainly from the 1950s and 1960s. Women, men and children, photographed with a Rolleiflex 6 x 6 camera in black and white, at home, in the streets or at work. He photographed people from all social classes with respect and from a certain distance.
A second set of sixteen photographs shows crowds of people contemplating a scene which is taking place or will take place, a kind of off-field action which is unfolding in front of them. This is the type of image which Pol Aschman took almost every time he covered an event. The photojournalist, who passed away in 1990, voluntarily placed himself in the picture in his reports, for example putting on the uniform of the ticket inspector in his report on the tram in Luxembourg in 1958.
The lightness of post-war youth, which he and many young people of his generation did not really experience, is another subject very present in Pol Aschman's photographs.
It is through these images that spectators discover a character with multiple facets, marked by his time, and who wanted to present the small stories next to the big events and to draw attention to the facts of society and people living on the fringe of it.
The 160 photographs on display in this exhibition are a small part of the 220,000 negatives of the Pol Aschman photographic collection, which has been housed at the Photothèque of the City of Luxembourg since 1997.
In accordance with the health restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visitors in the exhibition space is limited to 35 people. It is mandatory for visitors to wear a mask and maintain a two-metre distance between each other while visiting the exhibition.
The exhibition is open to the public from 10 July to 26 September 2021, from 11:00 to 19:00. Entry is free.
