The Grand Palais offered a spectacular setting for the latest edition of Paris Photo. The 27th edition of the November fair drew a remarkable 80,000 visitors—23 percent more than the 2023 edition—with lines around the venue. On the day of Observer’s visit, more than 7,000 collectors, photography enthusiasts and sundry VIPs attended from around the world, and business was booming.
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While Paris Photo is decidedly overwhelming, the organizers helped fairgoers navigate the labyrinthine onslaught of images by dividing the exhibition into several major categories, each allotted a different geographical space among the three levels of the sprawling Grand Palais. The Main sector took up most of the ground floor, with booths mounted by 147 largely blue-chip galleries. The Emergence sector featured twenty-three solo shows presented by younger galleries spanning the back half of the second-level balcony, while the front half of the level showcased the Editions section, focused on recent art books curated by international publishing houses. The second-year iteration of the newly inaugurated Digital sector was found just behind the Main sector on the ground floor. And a new section, Voices, presented thematic projects by three independent curators just inside the VIP entrance in the southeast gallery, showcasing the thoughtful juxtaposition of disparate bodies of recent photographic work.
Highlights from the Main sector
The Main sector was undoubtedly a commercial success, attesting to the growing market for photography among global collectors. The presentation began with the massive display of August Sander’s most renowned project: “People of the 20th........