LAUSANNE.- L is for Look explores the place of photography in children's books. From their rise in the 1930s, the exhibition traces the history of a medium that has seen images become a universal language. Playful and immersive, it celebrates children's books and invites all generations to enjoy a packed program of educational activities.

Designed in collaboration with all the project partners, the exhibition includes a large selection of books available for consultation, and interactive experiences designed for young and old alike.

Most of the books on display come from the Photo Elysée library, one of the largest collections of photography books in Europe, with over 30,000 titles. The exhibition is co-produced by the Institut pour la photographie des Hauts-de-France and Photo Elysée.

THE EXHIBITION

Pedagogy

In their early days in the 1930s, the main purpose of children's photobooks was to enrich the vocabulary and knowledge of young children. It was within this context that picture books were born, quickly establishing themselves as essential works for child development. Their graphic and material design — spiral binding, interactive features, fold-out pages — became a key component of imagery and encouraged a participatory approach to learning. Both educational tools and artistic experiments, these books appeal to young and old alike.

Education

After the war, the burgeoning humanist movement gave rise to a new form of photography aimed at helping to nurture children’s view of the world and teaching them about difference. The photobook became established in children's literature thanks to its ability to represent reality accurately. It became a learning tool that explored lifestyles, origins, and disabilities, while encouraging children to discover and express their own emotions.

Fiction

From the 1950s onwards, under the influence of cinema, television, and live performance, children's photobooks began to expand into the realm of fiction. Thanks to image sequencing, they became a narrative medium in their own right. At the same time, photography gained artistic recognition and became a means of subjective expression. Artists began to take stories and reinterpret them visually, blending reality and imagination.

Animals

Animals occupy an essential place in children's literature, as they allow children to better understand the world while maintaining a certain distance from reality. The advent of photography has enriched the way they are represented, by highlighting their diversity, both morphological and behavioral. Often imaginary, stories about animals have an educational, playful or moral purpose, leveraging anthropomorphism to increase their appeal to young readers. Animal characters help to elicit empathy from children, while giving them a leading role in the story.

Photography

Photo publishing for young people is characterized by great freedom in the use of photography and bold graphic innovations. The use of amateur or magazine images allows for the creation of original visuals that play on popular imagery. By exploring formats, colors, graphic and typographic elements, imagination and reality are blended through often metaphorical twists. Today, technological advances and digital tools have fostered the rise of "mixed media," a practice now common in children's illustration, which combines drawing and photography.

Awakening the Gaze

Children's photobooks do more than just show pictures: they also encourage children to exercise their eyes and learn about photography. They develop a pedagogy through observation and action, where the world is staged to stimulate critical thinking and creativity. Rather like a game, they encourage children to look at everything there is to see, whether in the images themselves or in their associations. Participatory and playful, these albums also encourage children to experiment with photography in inventive ways, whether through posing, framing, or setting.

ARTISTS

Laure Albin-Guillot; Alexander & Alexandra Alland; Enzo Arnone; Horst Beseler; Aenne Biermann; Thomas Billhardt; Serge Bloch; Balthasar Burkhard; Adam Broomberg & Olivier Chanarin; Karel Capek; Donald Crews; Dominique Darbois; Claire Dé; Robert Doisneau; Hosoe Eikoh; Sven Gronlykke; Vladimir Gruntal; Machteld den Hertog; Tana Hoban; Hannah Höch; Jesper Horn; Jean Lecointre; Thérèse Le Prat; Suzy Lee; Natacha Lesueur; Roger Mauge; Piet Marée; Reinhard Matz; Roger Mello; Annette Messager; Duane Michals; Sarah Moon; Stefan Moses; Shigeichi Nagano; Elisabeth Niggermeyer; Jules Ober; Suzi Pile; Edith Rimkus; Ana Riwkin-Brick; Alexander Rodtchenko & Varvara Stepanova; Zofia Rydet; Giulia Sagramola; Cindy Sherman; Frantisek Skala; Catarina Sobral; Emmanuel Sougez; Howard Spivak; Edward Steichen; Wolfgang Suschitzky; Tomi Ungerer; Jan van Holleben; Helle Vibeke Jensen; William Wegman; Harry Whittier Frees; William Wondriska; Hope Wurmfeld; Ylla.