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According to  Bloomberg.com when asked the question,  Is photography art? The answer must be yes, because the ultra-conservative Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris has just admitted Lucien Clergue, the first photographer in its history of more than 200 years.

Clergue, 73, is the founder and long-time director of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, a major event in the calendar of photo festivals.

To celebrate the Academy's honor, the Galerie Patrice Trigano has organized a show, featuring the two facets of Clergue's work for which he is best known -- his sophisticated nudes, often dramatically shot in open air landscapes, and his portraits of friends.

What friends they are: They include Pablo Picasso, who he first photographed when Clergue was a teenager, and Jean Cocteau, who the painter introduced him to.

Most of the prints are in black and white. Prices start at 3,000 euros ($4,263) and rise to 18,000 euros.

The show in the gallery at 4bis Rue des Beaux-Arts runs through Nov. 23. For more information, call +33-1-4634-1501.

Trampling on Art

Wang Du, a 51-year-old Chinese artist who lives and works in Paris, has a more down-to-earth opinion of photography.

When you enter the Galerie Laurent Godin, you literally trample on it.

Last summer, Wang asked his students and friends in Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities to take pictures of whatever they pleased, as many as possible.

The result is 50,000 snapshots, and they cover not only the entire floor of the gallery. On the walls, they are arranged in a way to suggest -- regardless of what they depict -- the skyline of an urban landscape. Free-standing piles of others look like office towers.

The message is clear: In a world flooded with images, photographs have become virtually invisible. They are just good enough as raw material for an installation.

The show runs through Nov. 3 at 5 Rue du Grenier St. Lazare. For more information, call +33-1-4271-1066.

Slashed Royals

David Mach, a witty Scot, uses photographs as raw material for a different kind of mischief. He is more picky, though: He prefers postcards of the British royal family.

He cuts them up and, reassembling them like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, turns them into large-size portraits of pop stars and other celebrities.

Mach takes the heads of well-known figures such as Michelangelo's David, Marilyn Monroe and Mao, then sculpts them into gaudy figures made out of matches. His most recent invention: sculptures made from wire hangers.

The portraits sell for 30,000-35,000 euros, the heads for 7,000-8,000 euros. The show runs through Nov. 17 at the Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, 38 Avenue Matignon. Information: http://www.denoirmont.com .

Ripped Collages

Jacques Villegle, 81, transforms mass-produced material in yet another way. He was one of the first ``affichistes,'' who started, 50 years ago, to make collages from torn-down posters. Many are highly decorative.

The Galerie Vallois, 36 Rue de Seine, shows -- through Nov. 10 -- a good selection with prices ranging from 7,000 to 120,000 euros. For more information, call +33-1-4634-6107.

Art Fair

Serious collectors will already have made a note of France's most important art fair, the Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain (FIAC) at the Grand Palais and the Cour Carree of the Louvre (starting today and running through Oct. 22).

The rush was so huge that even more galleries had to be turned down than last year. You find the ``refuses,'' much to the dismay of the FIAC, at the Espace Cardin, 1 Ave. Gabriel, and on the Champs-Elysees between Petit Palais and Place de la Concorde.