Jacques Henri Lartigue’s Côte d’Azur

During the summer 2007, the cultural service of the city of the Lavandou is paying a tribute to Jacques Henri Lartigue (Courbevoie, 1894 - Nice, 1986), a famous French photographer who took some of the most beautiful photos of the 20th century.
 
This new event, taking place at the cultural centre, will consist of an exhibition of more than 150 photos including some previous unpublished works, by the artist during his several stays on the Côte d’Azur. Jacques Henri Lartigue was a painter, a photographer, a decorator, a fashion designer and a writer.
 
However, his real achievement was to freeze forever the short moments of happiness. This exhibition is a way to follow this great and curious dandy’s life on the French Riviera from 1908 to 1980. You will discover the landscapes of a coast which was not so frequented at that time, the beginnings of yachting, “the games on the beach” between the wars, and the portraits of artists and stars such as Sacha Guitry, Abel Gance, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, John Fitzgerald Kennedy...
 
It chronicles intimately an elegant way of life and bears witness to a period revolutionary in spirit. Preparing the event allowed us to have access to some archives of the artist. Thanks to the help of the Donation Jacques Henri Lartigue, we also found some photos ignored by the public but which allow us to situate more precisely the place where they had been taken, in the Lavandou and around during one of his stays in the region in 1927 and in 1933.  

Inauguration on the 6th of July at 7 p.m. Tel : 04 94 05 15 70

www.lartigue.org