Museum Elysée

In 2014, the Musée de l’Elysée received a sizeable collection ofphotography books assembled by Christoph Schifferli. Over 5,000 books, most of them rare or unique, were added to the museum library’s 12,000 books.
Over the past twelve years, following various exhibitions and publications, especially those by Martin Parr, photography books have become collection objects and research subjects. Aestheticand graphic objects, theybring together images, typography and text. Among the best sources of the history of photography, theymake it possible tofollow an artist’s personal development, to understand a period of history as well as to apprehend the genres and themes that make up this medium’s complexity and significance.
The exhibition Photobooks.Elysée showcases works published by William Eggleston, who was himself very influenced by certain books. It is also an opportunity to present the vast ongoing project to digitize the museum’s library which is being undertaken in collaboration with EPFL’s Digital Humanities Laboratory. Thus, books as historical objects appear alongside digital publications, linking the importance of their conservation with the necessity of their dissemination.