Rock’n' Roll 39-59 22 June - 28 October, 2007 Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris

The book Rock'n'Roll 39-59 (text by Charlie Gillett, Peter Guralnick, David Halberstam, Greil Marcus, Florent Mazzoleni, Robert Palmer, and Alfred Wertheimer; interview between Alain Dominique Perrin and Gregg Geller) is available exclusively at Fondation Cartier fondation.cartier.com

Their music has changed society. Born in African American culture by R&B - rhythm and blues - musicians in the 1940s rock ’n’ roll exploded its spirit of freedom and rebellion to the American population in the 50ies. The face of American society begins to change as the old music classifications become obsolete. At the same time the Civil Rights movement took a huge step forward.

The exhibition presents the movement from boogie-woogie in 1939 to the events of the late 1950s that marked the end of the music’s first great era. Period posters, records, rare objects, photographs, films, music, sound, invite you to relive a key cultural phenomenon.

Even the style of this era is inspired by the eccentricities of African Americans with their gaudy oversized suits. Elvis Presley, who got his suits from African-American tailors in Memphis and affected truckdriver sideburns and long hair, is the perfect example of the “bad boy” look popular at the time.

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foto: Ernest C. Withers The Two Kings : Elvis Presley with B.B. King backstage at the WDIA Goodwill Review, 1957. ©Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA