In "Notre-Dame, seen from the Quai de Montebello, November 18, 2002," Parisian photographer Bruno Requillart veils the renowned cathedral with a screen of leaves and branches. The image is among 50 in "Paris on the Seine: Photographs by Bruno Requillart" at Silver Eye Center for Photography.

By Mary Thomas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Some honeymooned there, a few spent a night on the way to Italy, for others it was home during a junior year abroad, "but everybody seems to have a story about Paris," says Linda Benedict-Jones, executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography.

She was describing conversations she'd had with visitors to "Paris on the Seine: Photographs by Bruno Requillart," which continues through May 26 at the South Side space.

		'Paris on the Seine: Photographs by Bruno Requillart' Where: Silver Eye Center for Photography, 1015 E. Carson St., South Side. When: Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, until 9 p.m. Thursdays. Admission: Free. Information: 412-431-1810 or www.silvereye.org. Note: The work in this exhibition is for sale. Special event: Dylan Vitone will lead an outdoor photography workshop on Saturday morning. Reservation required, $20.

The exhibition has already received more than 3,000 visitors, due in part to its quality and in part to commendable programming that made the most of local French connections.

The show comprises 50 photographs by critically praised, internationally exhibited Parisian Requillart, whose photographs are included in such prestigious collections as those of the Pompidou Center, Paris, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, and whose 1970s vintage prints and negatives are part of the French Ministry of Culture archives.

His are not postcard scenes, although famed landmarks frequently appear, nor are they flashy. The black-and-white silver gelatin photographs -- which he prints himself -- are panoramic but, contrary to the contemporary trend toward large, are presented in demure horizontal or vertical formats.

Both of these stylistic choices draw the viewer near, at first to ponder the location depicted and other content, and then to discover the intensely refined formal qualities of the compositions. The photographs invite contemplation, even conversation.

"There's a little game in each picture," Benedict-Jones says, "and it's the viewer's pleasure to figure out what that is."

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A row of book stalls repeats the rhythm of historic buildings and trees across the river from them. The curving branches of a foreground tree references the arches of a background bridge. Thick, gnarled vines grown into a weathered wall share the dignity and presence of historic buildings.

Architecture, history, nature and culture are blended into a vision that is holistic and egalitarian. Requillart's interpretation imposes order upon the eclectic urban scape while retaining the twinkle of discovery and secrets revealed.

In most prints, people are absent, allowing line and object to interact without the distractions the figure introduces. To achieve this, Benedict-Jones says, Requillart -- like his esteemed fellow Parisian Eugene Atget -- rises early, taking to the streets by 4:30 or 5 a.m.

When included, the figure is often abstracted, as in "Nuns, Tuileries Gardens and Louvre (on the left), Musee d'Orsay (on the right), July 25, 2005," wherein their habit bonnets enliven the image like birds in flight.

Mood is altered by season and by perspective. For example, "Notre-Dame, seen from the Quai de Montebello, January 1, 2004" is tucked into winter under a dusting of snow, slumbering and quiet. Stark, black trunks and signs in the foreground provide a spare modern contrast to the sumptuousness of the distant cathedral's buttresses and spires. In "Notre-Dame, seen from the Quai de Montebello, November 18, 2002," leaf-filigreed, gracefully curving branches screen a formidable structure that spans the photograph in both directions from its nearly central rose window.

It is evident that Requillart, who was born in 1947, doesn't simply reside in Paris but looks at it intensely, and, more importantly, listens to it. That would account for his appreciation of nuance, for the minute observations that add depth to the city he presents.

Requillart has photographed throughout Paris, but a decision was made to restrict work in this exhibition to views taken from the banks of the Seine River, inviting comparisons to the rivers where Pittsburgh grew. The artist and Benedict-Jones, who curated the show, met in Paris for three days last year to choose the exhibited images from more than 500.

Two scenes of flooded benches and roadway resonate here. And a pair of joggers on a riverside promenade -- with river, boat and bridge beyond them -- could at a glance be in Point State Park.

The show's subject and title are also patterned on a book, "Paris sue Seine," to be released in the fall by the noted Parisian publisher Robert Delpire.

Benedict-Jones met Requillart in 1975 in Paris, where she and her husband, Christopher, lived for four years. Both are fluent in French, and Christopher is the teaching professor of French and Francophone Studies at Carnegie Mellon University.

Benedict-Jones brought her knowledge and experience to the exemplary event package she and her staff developed.

Programs -- which explored French songs, wine, food and, of course, photography -- have sold out. All accompanying texts are bilingual, including a fine guide to "Living French in Pittsburgh."

In his artist statement, Requillart writes "I'm not looking for extraordinary effects, but rather for a poetry of the instant." He's managed to deliver both simultaneously.

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