« it’s a beautiful story », one of those whose self-narration repeats itself and becomes more beautiful. A simple story that becomes, as if by magic, one of the pillars of an existence.
In the late nineteen-fifties, young and freshly qualified from his photography training, Hans Silvester left his native Germany for the south of France, on his two-wheeled vehicle. He dropped his bag in that remote Camargue which forgot (for many reasons) to catch the first wave of European modernisation. A land still living by its own values.
Patiently, Hans recorded image after image, the specificity of this territory unlike any other. Quietly satisfied with his early results, obtained through great dedication, he decided to create a mock-up to imagine his photography book. Portfolio under his arm, brimming with confidence, he set his mind on obtaining a genuine preface but not from just anyone: from Monsieur Jean Giono the great south of France writer, then at the height of his glory.
It is anecdotes that shape History. Hans arrived at Jean’s house, hesitated, then rang the bell. It was Elise Giono, the wife, who opened the door. Hans asked to see the writer to present his project. « The master is working in his study… », the reply fell like a guillotine blade. Hans persisted, a little beyond the bounds of propriety, and the writer appeared, ushered him in, and agreed to leaf through this famous mock-up of pasted photographs. It was then that this pillar of literature, having immediately admitted to his visitor that he knew nothing of the Camargue, agreed to write a preface for this book of uncertain future.
It is then that after an unlikely encounter, one falls into the miraculous. Jean Giono who loved photography became captivated by the superb and uncommon images of Hans. This preface would not be two or three pages dashed off hurriedly on a corner of a desk. Nor would it be a descriptive tribute honouring or describing the author’s work, or even expounding what he had conceived of the work in his mind. Not at all Jean Giono offered his own Camargue: the one he did not know, the one he imagined. A poetic novella, completely independent and a perfect counterpoint to the photographs of Hans Silvester’s poetic universe. This improbable outpouring from the writer, combined with the conceptual purity of the photographer’s images, was published in Switzerland in 1959. This work of juxtaposition, though independent, of these two authors would leave a sufficient impression on minds to be reprinted. Today, it is the Amis de Giono who offer us a modernised reissue of this particular work. Unfortunately, the print run of this new edition is limited (beyond the publishers’ wishes) to one thousand copies, and it they are not very easy to find. This is all the more regrettable since its price of under 30 euros is as miraculous as the origins of this book. My only regret concerns the new layout of the book, which in my view runs counter to the intellectual concept of its authors, having sliced up Jean Giono’s text into « sausage slices » to scatter them among Hans’s photographs. The antithesis of the narrative principle, for both the text and the photography. I have always thought it would be worthwhile for conceptual graphic designers to actually read the texts they claim to lay out, or to listen to the music they offer.
The journey through this book born of an unlikely marriage of authors, for a Camargue from another world offers a sensual and intellectual experience not to be missed.
Thierry Maindrault
Camargue by Jean Giono & Hans Silvester
Éditions Perles Rares
26 cm x 22 cm format
hardcover
50 pages
50 photographs
ISBN 978-1-0984385-0-9
price €28.90
