An exhibition at the Sainte Trophime convent and 2 book publications: this is the presence of Agnes Varda in Arles this year!
At the convent: La Pointe Courte, from photographs to film.
With La Pointe-Courte, Agnès Varda produced in 1954 a radical film alternating between a graphic and realistic style which did not escape informed film lovers of the time.
The film displays an artistic independence that breaks with the codes of cinema of its time to the point of being described as a precursor of the New Wave.
To prepare her film, the young woman undertook a meticulous selection of her photographs, among the some 250 views taken in Sète between 1952 and 1954. She thus constituted nine sheets of reference and location photographs which inspired scenes, atmospheres and even still shots from the film, which she details in a carefully written script. It is not a question here of set or filming photographs but of what pre-existed the idea of the film or participated in its conception. His favorite subjects and motifs are further confirmed by the rediscovery of period or late prints, reflections of his preferences and revealing of a vision.
In June 1954, Agnès Varda opened the doors of her house on rue Daguerre to present, in her courtyard, on the walls, a selection of portraits, nudes, still lifes.
His street and his neighbors are privileged subjects, like Alexander Calder, met thanks to Jean Vilar. Visitors discover images striking in their style, heralding the aesthetics of an entire career.
His humor and his love of words are already apparent; the personalization of everyday objects through what she calls her “funny faces”; the heart-shaped potato almost fifty years before his documentary Les Gleaners and La Gleaner; the first images of Sète where the photographer discerns lines of force, arranges perspectives, plays with shapes and textures to the limit of abstraction. Agnès Varda encourages us to discover what she sees with her “curious eyes”.
Chez Delpire: The exhibition catalog and Expo 54
