Shooting Galleries Rondeauís Photos Display Intimate Side of French Museums by Jessica Shyu GÈrard Rondeau carries around a small, well-worn Leica camera and uses only thatóa classic, yet simple pieceóand a larger tripod camera to capture the vivid black-and-white photographs now on display at the French Embassy in the exhibit ìFrench Museums, Intimate Portraits.î The French artist boasts that he only uses natural lights and brushes away the thought of using any techniques outside of his own experience and the most basic tools. ìI never use a flash,î Rondeau said. ìIn the dark, I just wait and take time for the right lights to pass through.î Perhaps itís through this simplicity that Rondeau was able to capture the spirit of the 33 national museums of France, a project commissioned by the RÈunion des MusÈes Nationaux and the focus of ìIntimate Portraits.î Gracing the sunlit gallery walls of the French Embassy, Rondeauís 49 photographs showcase the mood of these world-famous museums and exhibitions. Rather than documenting the artworks, buildings or visitors, a venture completed many times over, the photographs draw the revered sculptures and paintings out of their lifeless postures and portray their relationships with reality, whether in the form of plastic wrap or passing patrons. ìLife is sometimes a little complicated,î Rondeau said at the embassyís opening reception on June 9. ìSometimes people look at sculptures, but sometimes sculptures are looking at the people.î Such an attitude is reflected in the photograph ìLa Guerre et la Paix,î in which a portrait of Picasso glares admiringly at a passing womanís legs. Photographs are sometimes ìlike a mirror,î Rondeau said. ìSometimes they show this kind of fact that they are looking at you and have something to say.î An internationally regarded artist, Rondeauís portrait and festival photography has appeared in the respected French daily newspaper Le Monde. Despite the demand for his work, Rondeau sacrifices his time and often his safety to complete projects that are dear to his heart, such as his collaboration with the group Doctors without Borders. After traveling to the refugee camps in Kosovo in the early 1990s, Rondeau also launched exhibitions and books on the war in Bosnia. ìDuring the bad times itís important to be with the people,î he said. Along with his humanistic spirit, Rondeau stands out because in addition to the ìmaking of fine photography, there is a composition of humor that reaches out to the audience,î said gallery owner Nevin Kelly. But Rondeau noted that art is subjective: Pieces that he never considered to be humorous strike some viewers as comical. With photographs such as the image of a statue of a boy and a blurred human boy whizzing by in the MusÈe díOrsay in Paris, Rondeauís intent is to remind people that ìwe are mortals. Life is nothing. Sometimes statues are more human than humans.î ìFrench Museums, Intimate Portraitsî runs through July 18 at the Embassy of France, 4101 Reservoir Road, NW. Viewings are by appointment only. For more information, please call (202) 944-6091 or visit www.ambafrance-us.org. Jessica Shyu is an editorial intern for The Washington Diplomat.