Customer Reviews

Lartigue's Riviera

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Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) was a unique photographer and certainly one who was able to capture the idiosyncrasies of the French people and places as well as anyone who ever held a camera. He is a realist and a poet and this collection of photographs selected form the thousands he took focuses specifically on the French Riviera.

Strolling bathers along the boardwalks, vistas of the Mediterranean and the flavor of the Cote D'Azur are the subjects here. Lartigue's quality of images includes some colored-infused works that quote pointillism concepts. The works are of the people and the attitudes, the flavor of the region, the quintessential breezy atmosphere of one of the world's great playgrounds. With this collection in hand we are left with memories of a quieter time, of nostalgia, of the beauty of people at ease. Grady Harp, December 05

Photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue loved France and loved the good life. This 143-page book of photographs chronicles the latter in the center of "la vie en rose," the Riviera or Cote d'Azur. There are a hundred or so beautiful and insightful portraits, candid pix and landscapes that cover a subject spectrum of beautiful people (women, in particular) to cityscapes to seascapes to still-lifes and more.

The period covered is roughly 1920 to 1969. WWII does not intrude on the good times pictured here. Virtually every beautiful photo suggests enjoyment of life. It's fantasy for most of us, but it was reality for a few, and certainly functions as a kind of seductive travel propaganda for the South of France as it once existed. There are still many vestiges of Lartigue's special places, but for the most part, this is a book about a golden past, or at least, extraordinary people who lived in that golden time.

Any francophile would love this book. Or anyone with an interest in period photography. Recommended.

This is a BEAUTIFUL collection of images and notes on this wonderful, joyful Photographer.
I lost my library's copy & will replace it, it is a rare treasure...