To many, Agnès Troublé is the woman behind French label Agnès B., responsible for outfitting chic Parisians in snap-up cardigans and other understated classics. But to followers of contemporary art, Agnès is patron first, designer second. In addition to maintaining an extraordinary personal collection (which began with a Basquiat self-portrait), Agnès aided the photographer Ryan McGinley in the early stages of his career, financed the production of French subtitles for Harmony Korine’s films, and has for several years operated Galerie du Jour, in Paris, showing off the likes of Nan Goldin and those who have followed in her wake: McGinley, Korine, Dan Colen, Ryan McGinness, and Dash Snow, among others.
In April, Agnès opened a new Agnès B. store and gallery, in Soho, which is currently featuring the work of seven up-and-coming French photographers. (The show also includes drawings by Abdelkader Benchamma, Lionel Avignon, and Kiki & Loulou Picasso, a curatorial decision that Agnès explains as “discreetly hinting at the most eminent figure of French photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who in his later years all but abandoned photography and never stopped drawing.”) Here are a few of my favorite photographs from “Certain Young French Photography and Drawings.”
