Whoosh! Jacques Henri Lartigue’s world of colour

A new major UK exhibition gathers the rarely seen colour photographs of Jacques Henri Lartigue, better known for his black-and-white images of high society. Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour is at MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, until 4 October. Lartigue began experimenting with early colour photography as a teenager, taking up autochrome in 1912 before pausing the process in 1928.

Long exposure times and cumbersome equipment led him to focus on painting through the 1930s, and he returned to modern colour photography in the 1950s when it became more widespread. The show presents over 150 works, concentrating on his lesser-known colour photographs and including early stereoscopic images that produce three-dimensional effects, vintage prints, unique works on paper and archival documents.

Nearly 40% of the more than 100,000 images in his archive are colour photographs, many of which have rarely been seen.

United Kingdom, Milton Keynes

lartigue, colour photography, autochrome, mk gallery, milton keynes, stereoscopic images, vintage prints, photographic archive, black-and-white, exhibition