PARIS — At the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in the Montparnasse district, the party was swinging. A group of chic Parisians was bobbing absent-mindedly to “San Francisco,” by the Gallic rock legend Johnny Hallyday, which was blasting through the foyer. Others were picking through a jumble of costumes and props in an improvised photo studio. One woman had squeezed into a banana-yellow African batik dress; her partner had opted for retro sunglasses and an African feather wand. The couple regarded themselves with approval in a mirror, and struck a pose for a waiting photographer.

Parisian art galleries aren’t renowned for their decadent party spirit, at least not on weekday afternoons. But the Cartier Foundation was doing its utmost to get into the groove. A few days earlier, it had opened “Mali Twist,” a show dedicated to the renowned Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, and now a highlight of this year’s Paris Photo week. Some 250 black-and-white photographs crowd every inch of wall. In one, a pair of teenage boys in wildly patterned bell bottoms pose moodily with a guitar. Nearby, a glacially sophisticated young woman in shades and a tailored suit looks as if she were about to set off down a catwalk.