Robert Polidori: Salle de Crimée Sud, Versailles, 2007/2013, 60 by 72 inches, C-print. Courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York.
Robert Polidori (a staff photographer at the New Yorker) has been visiting Versailles for 25 years, ever since he won a contract to document the ongoing restoration of the French palace. Layers of history are evident in Polidori’s large-scale color C-prints, where unframed paintings lean against walls, dusty chandeliers are repeated ad infinitum in mirrors and rickety ladders point toward chipped ceilings.