Sorbonne Artgallery

Sorbonne Artgallery is proud to present the first ever exhibition of a collection of slides and photographs from the archives of geographer Jean Gottmann (1915-1994). InJean Gottmann: An Iconography of Movement, scholars work towards shedding light on his concept of the 'megalopolis': field documentation becomes art.

Half of the photographs on display were taken in North America, a third in Europe, 10-15% in Latin America, while the remaining 5% consist of diagrams, maps, and artworks. The collection, not limited to traditional geographical study, includes field shots, personal, professional, and intellectual elements; and material drawn from previous projects. The intermingling of his field work with his intellectual and professional life across his 'Atlantic transhumance' reveals his vision of the variety of human geography. 

Beyond documenting the Transatlantic landscapes, the collection also traces his intellectual transition from French regional monograph to an innovative understanding of territory, for him consisting of a multiscalar geography of nodes and networks, informed by the cultural and psychological projection of the peoples sharing it as their common habitat. It also follows his early discovery of the symbiosis of the rural and urban in the Northeastern seaboard of the United States, which, for Gottmann, was the hinge of a complex network.

Surpassing the limits of national frameworks in political geography, Gottmann wondered about the possibility of a world community in the future, considering that a planetary political organization would function on condition that it respected the world's cultural variety. Thus, his work becomes even more interesting—and important—in today's troubled times.