Mistrusted and attacked since the beginning by puritanical and conservative society, rock’n’roll makes its way today into the world of museums with a splendid exhibition that opened on June 22 at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. Spanning the most significant years of a musical and social movement that was to change the face of America and the world, the exhibition is as much the portrait of a handful of musical geniuses as it is that of a society in the midst of fundamental change. From the 1940s, which posed the musical foundation of the movement, to the golden years at the end of the 1950s, the exhibition invites you on a broad tour through America.
From the first rooms with their iconic imagery – an impressive collection of vintage juke boxes, mikes, guitars, turntables, the reconstruction of a period recording studio, and even a Cadillac – to the large mural fresco retracing the history of a society in upheaval and laying out the infamous lives of certain emblematic figures, the rock ’n’ roll exhibition puts into perspective this singular musical current by placing it in its historical context: first, within the history of music, revealing the origins of the movement from gospel to rhythm and blues, but more importantly, its place within a broader history, with the beginnings of the struggle for civil rights, and a search for awareness and self-empowerment by the youth, leading to the ideals and struggles of the 1960s and 70s.
With its rare and fascinating images, including numerous posters of concerts from the era and the incredible series of photos made of King Elvis in 1956 by Alfred Wertheimer, most of which have never been published, the abundant and impressive documentation alone justifies this trip to the heart of the 1950s. For beyond the major importance of the upheaval that this musical movement engendered, its imagery was also to mark Western collective imagination forever with its esthetic canons and the fate of the most outstanding figures, from Buddy Holly to Elvis Presley, “the King”, who is at the heart of the exhibition and for whom we “celebrate” this year the thirtieth anniversary of his death.
By Olivier Gonord.