The Louvre Museum | Paris, 1981

I visited the Louvre Museum during a journey to Paris in 1981. Walking through its monumental galleries, I was interested not only in the works of art but also in the historic interiors and the people who came to see them. The glass pyramid, now so closely associated with the Louvre, did not yet exist. It would open in 1989, transforming the museum's entrance and circulation.

The Louvre's history reaches back to a fortress built under King Philip II in the late twelfth century. Over the centuries it became a royal palace, before opening as a public museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. Its collections bring together artistic traditions from ancient civilizations to major works of European painting and sculpture. In 1981, its long vaulted passages, sculptural displays and painting galleries offered a remarkable setting in which to observe both art and the visitors around it.

Among the works that drew the greatest attention were the Venus de Milo, a celebrated ancient Greek sculpture, and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. I remember the crowds gathering before the painting, which was displayed behind thick protective glass. Reflections on the glass, together with the people standing in front of me, made taking a photograph especially difficult. I was as interested in the way visitors encountered these famous works as I was in the works themselves.

Photography inside the museum was a challenge. I was using Kodachrome slide film rated at just 25 ASA (ISO 25). In the subdued light of the galleries, and without using flash, this meant working at very slow shutter speeds. Holding the camera steady was difficult, while visitors rarely remained still. Some images therefore show movement and softness, particularly in the painting galleries. With such limited light and film sensitivity, I came away from this vast museum with only a small number of photographs.

I made nine photographs, eight of which I have selected for this portfolio. Although some are technically imperfect, I value them as documentary records of a particular moment. The visitors' clothing, the arrangement of the galleries, the paintings on the walls and the atmosphere around the sculptures all belong to the Louvre I saw in 1981. Looking back forty-five years later, I see these photographs not simply as images of artworks, but as a personal visual testimony to a day in the museum before its great transformation.