At first glance, Tina Barney’s (b. 1945) photographs might seem like ordinary family snapshots, documenting people caught off guard at gatherings, getting ready in bathrooms or preparing food. Yet there’s something a little off-kilter – almost hyperreal – about them. The reason: many of them have actually been carefully staged. Barney is best known for blurring the line between fact and fiction, with subjects posing – often replaying natural micro-gestures from moments before – like actors in a film scene. Over 40 years, Barney has honed a distinct aesthetic, blending the spontaneity of a quick snapshot with the considered composition of classical paintings. Now, Jeu de Paume, Paris, presents an exhibition of 55 large-scale works from the breadth of the American photographer’s career. It is titled Family Ties.
Barney starting taking photographs of relatives and friends in the late 1970s, drawing on her interest in domestic scenes after she and her family moved to Sun Valley, Idaho. By the 1980s, she had returned to New York City and was offering an intimate look at the inner lives of the East Coast American upper class through the lens of a tripod-mounted Toyo 4×5 view camera. “The only way to examine ourselves, or the history of our lives, is through photography,” she said. At various vacation spots, birthday parties (The Children’s Party, 1986), weddings (Bridesmaids in Pink, 1995), backyard barbecues (Tim, Phil, and I, 1989) and family lunches in and around her house in Rhode Island, Barney probed the social habits of her subjects. Soon, she would be making similar portraits of celebrities and models for fashion magazines and luxury brands like The Daily Telegraph, W, Arena Homme Plus, Hommes Vogue International and Vogue US.
Between 1996 and 2004, Barney traveled to Europe, visiting Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Spain and Germany. The resulting photographs depicted figures of the European aristocracy posing in a pictorial manner, reminiscent of 18th century British “conversation pieces.” Popularised by William Hogarth, this style of painting was very different from the more formal court portraits of the time. Tate’s definition reads like a description of a Barney composition: “an informal group portrait … showing people – often families, sometimes groups of friends – in domestic interior or garden settings.”
Beyond their close attention to staging, what stands out about Barney’s images is their mastery of colour, texture and pattern. From floral curtains to pink satin bathrobes, sleek car interiors to wood panelling, every detail in the frame – including clothes, furniture, fabrics and decor – is brought into heightened focus. This approach has led to immense success and international recognition; Barney has exhibited at major venues across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Whitney Biennial. Today, her work is included in many prominent collections around the world. Jeu de Paume’s show is an opportunity to explore the theatrical dimension of these landmark works at a large scale.
Tina Barney: Family Ties, Jeu de Paume, Paris | Until 19 January
Image Credits:
1. Tina Barney, Two Sisters, 2019.
2. Tina Barney, Jill and Polly in the Bathroom, 1987.
