Candida Hfer: Opera de Paris

About this book

Candida Hfers works have something timeless about them and opera is perhaps the most timeless cultural delight. Having dedicated a photographic series to the cathedrals of knowledge that are libraries Hfer in her most recent cycle captures opera houses the palaces of performing arts. Hfers earlier pictures of public spaceslibraries lecture halls museums meeting roomsforever devoid of people made us sense the presence of those absent. Her opera photographs take us one step beyond: empty foyers orchestras stages wings and boxes make us imagine both theprotagonistsperformers and audienceand the fictitious figures plots and places that populate these venues during a night at the opera. In her most recent publication Candida Hfer portrays two Paris opera houses that are exemplary for their age and time: the neoclassicist Palais Garnier (1875) original Phantom of the Opera site and the modern-style Opra Bastille (1989).