Stunningly beautiful newly discovered photography by San Francisco artist Benjamen Chinn reveals classic Paris scenes, historic squares, and captured candid reveries. For Francophiles like me they are heart-stoppingly beautiful. Come for a visit and see a long-forgotten collection of historic images of eternal Paris. Makes me want to time travel. Benjamen Chinn: Paris 1950-1951 New Photography Exhibition Illustrates Parisian Street Life Long-forgotten master photographer Benjamen Chinn (1921–2009), equipped with two large-format cameras—four-by-five Linhof view camera and a Rolleiflex—traveled to Paris to photograph Parisian street life from 1950 through 1951. His innate sense of form and composition was acquired over many years of creating intimate portraits of everyday life in San Francisco's Chinatown. He was fortunate, indeed. In Paris Chinn studied sculpture with Alberto Giacometti at the Académie Julian, took painting classes at Fernand Léger's school, and studied geography and philosophy at the Paris-Sorbonne University. This was, of course, at a time when Paris was still the major art and culture center, an essential and desired stop for anyone with artistic aspirations and a sense of romance. In Paris, Chinn photographed 'capture-the-monent' subjects, including families, musicians, children, students, shopkeepers, workers, and daily Parisian life. Without the use of a darkroom, he developed the photographic negatives, but he never printed or saw any of the images until after he returned to San Francisco. The Photographer: I must admit I had never heard of Benjamen Chinn, nor had I seen his Cartier-Bresson-level work, which came to light upon his recent death. Benjamen Chinn was born on Commercial Street in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1921. Chinn's interest in photography started when he was ten years old. His older brother, John, taught him how to develop and print photographs in the family basement, which they had converted into a darkroom. Later, during World War II, Chinn used his photography skills as an aerial and public-relations photographer for the U.S. Army Air Corps based at Hickam Field, Honolulu, Hawaii. After the war, Chinn returned to San Francisco and enrolled in a new, fine art photography program at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute, where Ansel Adams and Minor White trained the next generation of fine-art photographers. Lecturers included Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Lisette Model, and Dorothea Lange. Benjamen Chinn: Paris 1950-1951 is an enduring photographic record by a gifted and important chronicler of urban-street life at home and abroad. This exhibition of a robust and charming Paris of the past reveals the artist's profound sensitivity and technical skill. Essential Details: Benjamen Chinn: Paris 1950-1951 is on view in San Francisco International Airport, Terminal 3, Boarding Area F, from September 2, 2011 through December 1, 2011. The exhibition is located post-security and is only accessible to passengers ticketed for travel through Terminal 3. There is no charge to view the exhibition. SFO Museum: SFO Museum was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public. The Museum has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport. Today, SFO Museum features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation. For more information, please visit www.flysfo.com/museum. Credits: All photos courtesy of The Benjamen Chinn Photographic Archive with express permission granted by The SFO Museum.