Galerie Thomas Zander

Zander Galerie Paris is delighted to announce its upcoming exhibition showcasing a special selection of ten photographs by acclaimed American photographer Lee Friedlander. Taken and printed by the artist in the 1960s and 1970s, these rare vintage gelatin silver prints offer a compelling look into Friedlander’s vision of the American way of life. Created during a defining period of his career, the works reveal the visual wit, acute observation, and formal complexity that have made him one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century.

Zander Galerie Paris is pleased to present an exhibition of six unique oversized dye-transfer prints by William Eggleston, taken between 1968 and 1973 and printed in 2008. Shown for the first time, these rare works occupy a singular position within the artist’s oeuvre, distinguished by their scale, chromatic intensity, and material presence. William Eggleston (b. 1939, Memphis, Tennessee) is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern photography and a pioneer in the recognition of colour photographs as a legitimate form of art. His work focuses on the everyday landscapes of the American South, captured with a heightened attention to colour, structure, and visual balance. Rather than seeking dramatic or narrative moments, he developed a practice rooted in observation, where ordinary scenes become sites of formal and perceptual intensity. Central to his approach is the concept he described as ‘democratic photography’, the idea that all subjects merit equal attention. This principle reshaped photographic thinking by emphasising perception and inviting viewers to reconsider how meaning emerges from the commonplace. His work came to prominence in 1976 with the exhibition Color Photographs by William Eggleston at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by John Szarkowski. The exhibition contributed to a decisive shift in the institutional reception of colour photography, placing his work at the forefront of a broader transformation in the medium. The photographs presented in this exhibition are emblematic of William Eggleston’s work, distinguished by their printing technique and his singular eye for composition. The dye-transfer process, renowned for its exceptional colour saturation and tonal precision, allowed him to achieve chromatic intensity and visual clarity central to the impact of his images. For more than twenty-five years, Eggleston worked closely with master printers Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli at Color Vision Imaging Laboratory, developing a collaborative process that was both technically rigorous and artistically driven. This sustained partnership was instrumental in translating his photographs into prints of remarkable depth, balance, and chromatic complexity. These six dye-transfer prints were produced at the artist’s request in a format significantly larger than his standard prints – each one is a unique work. The images exemplify the breadth of Eggleston’s subject matter and his commitment to democratic photography. Together, these rare oversized prints reveal how scale, colour, and composition converge to produce photographs of exceptional quality.

Zander Galerie Cologne is pleased to present The Long Goodbye, an exhibition of new and recent works by Christiane Baumgartner. Her large-scale woodcuts of landscapes and seascapes at dusk are based on the artist’s own video stills and digital photographs. From a distance, the images appear almost photo-graphic; up close they dissolve into finely carved grids of parallel lines, revealing the physical process of their making. Baumgartner’s practice is rooted in the translation of digital imagery into the traditional medium of woodcut. Carving line by line into large wooden blocks, she transforms fleeting moments of light and atmosphere into slow, labor-intensive prints. The resulting works move between figuration and abstraction: seascapes, skies, and reflections gradually emerge from dense linear structures that recall both analog signal patterns and the raster of digital images. By translating the fleeting image from the screen into the long and tactile process of carving and printing, Baumgartner’s large-scale woodcuts reflect on contemporary experiences of time, perception, and uncertainty.

Zander Galerie is pleased to present American Arbor, an exhibition of large-scale photographs by Mitch Epstein spanning the last two decades. Bringing together images of trees from American Power, Hoh Rain Forest, and his most recent series Old Growth, the show traces Epstein’s sustained exploration of the relationship between landscape and culture in the United States. In these series, Epstein photographs trees near energy production sites and in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in the moss-covered Olympic National Park in Washington and in ancient forests across the country. These towering works illuminate how trees are indicators of environmental vulnerability yet also powerful symbols of endurance. Across three seminal series, Epstein establishes a dialogue between the environment, human society and time. To do this, he traces a line from America’s industrial systems to its most ancient, enduring natural wonders. In American Power, he explores the stark juxtaposition between energy production sites, such as coal plants and refineries, and their surrounding communities, revealing the complex consequences of our reliance on the power grid. By contrast, Hoh Rain Forest immerses viewers in one of the oldest and ecologically rich environments in North America. Here, Epstein’s focus shifts from systems of extraction to spaces of preservation. Lush, intricate, and atmospheric, these photographs evoke the sense of stillness and continuity of a living ecosystem that has existed for centuries. In Old Growth Epstein continues this exploration of nature’s endurance and fragility through portraits of some of the oldest trees left in the United States, while 95% of them have already been destroyed. These monumental forms, weathered, resilient, and quietly commanding, stand as witnesses to centuries of environmental and cultural change. American Arbor presents these three series in conversation, inviting viewers to consider the tensions and interdependencies between growth and consumption, preservation and progress; this exhibition underscores Epstein’s enduring concern with how landscapes are shaped—physically, politically, and emotionally—while reflecting on what it means to coexist with the natural world. "Just as form and content are inextricably linked in photography, so is aesthetic judgment inextricably tied to moral clarity in our complex world." Mitch Epstein