The Invention of Happiness. In Milan, the exhibition on Jacques Henri Lartigue

An exhibition to discover the photography of Jacques Henri Lartigue (Courbevoie, 1894 - Nice, 1986): it is being hosted by the Museo Diocesano Carlo Maria Martini in Milan, from May 21 to October 10, 2021, and is a re-edition of the important exhibition The Invention of Happiness held in Venice at the Casa dei Tre Oci a few months ago. The exhibition features 120 images, and is curated by Denis Curti, by Marion Perceval and Charles-Antoine Revol, director and project manager respectively of the Donation Jacques Henri Lartigue, in collaboration with Casa Tre Oci in Venice and the Donation Jacques Henri Lartigue in Paris, under the patronage of the City of Milan, the Consulate of France in Milan, the Institut Français in Milan, and with the support of Ricola, media partner IGP Decaux.

In addition to the photographs, a number of archival materials, books such as Diary of a Century (published under the title “Instants de ma vie” in French) and magazines of the time are on display. These documents trace Lartigue’s entire career, from his early twentieth-century beginnings to the 1980s, and reconstruct the history of this photographer and his rediscovery. In this context, 1963 is a crucial year: John Szarkowski, recently appointed director of the photography department at MoMa (the Museum of Modern Art in New York), exhibits his work at the New York museum, allowing him to achieve success when Lartigue is now nearing seventy years old.

The exhibition follows a chronological order flanked by focuses on the main moments of rediscovery of Lartigue’s work, beginning with the New York Museum’s exhibition, during which his earliest pre-World War I shots are presented, making him the enfant prodige of photography. Inspired by the illustrated newspapers and magazines of this era, Lartigue became interested in the wealthy Parisian bourgeoisie who gathered at the Grand Prix motor races, the Auteuil horse races, as well as the elegant men and women who frequented them.

“Lartigue’s ’part of the world,’” writes Denis Curti in his text in the catalog, “is that of a wealthy, bourgeois Paris of the nouveau siècle, and even when Europe would be traversed by the horrors of the two world wars, Lartigue would continue to preserve the purity of his photographic microcosm, continuing to fix on film only what he wanted to remember, to preserve. To stop time, to save the moment from its inevitable passing. Photography becomes for Lartigue the means to exhume life, to relive the happy moments, again and again.”

Following the success of his exhibition at MoMa in the late 1960s, Lartigue met Richard Avedon and Hiro, two of the most influential fashion photographers of the time, who immediately became passionate about his art. Avedon, in particular, asked him to dig through his archives to unearth some shots in order to create a photographic ’journal’. The selection of these images, made by Avedon himself and Bea Feitler, photoeditor of Harper’s magazine, led in 1970 to the publication of the volume Diary of a Century, which definitively established him among the greats of twentieth-century photography. However, Lartigue has long since ceased to be the amateur photographer of the turn of the century. Since the 1940s he has been publishing his photographs in magazines, combining his mundane encounters with sophisticated framing. After an in-depth look at the period of his rediscovery, the last sections focus on the 1970s and 1980s, marked by his collaborations with the world of cinema, where he worked as a set photographer for numerous films, and fashion. Lartigue’s eye, however, never managed to stray far from everyday life, always capturing many curious and irony-laden details.

Two films will be presented in the video room; the first, Bonjour Monsieur Lartigue, is a documentary/interview with the artist, made by Elisabetta Catalano on the occasion of the 1982 exhibition of the same name at the Grand Palais in Paris; the second, Jacques Henri Lartigue. The Invention of Happiness. Photographs, produced by the Casa dei Tre Oci and Donation Lartigue, features a selection of works by the French master. A bilingual Marsilio Editori catalog accompanies the exhibition, with a testimonial by Ferdinando Scianna. The exhibition is open daily. Exhibition only (entrance from Corso Porta Ticinese 95): daily from 6 to 10 p.m. with exhibition+consumption Chiostro Bistrot 12 euros formula. Diocesan Museum+exhibition: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., full price 8 euros, reduced 6 euros. For info visit www.chiostrisanteustorgio.it.

Notes on Jacques Henri Lartigue

Jacques Henri Lartigue was born on June 13, 1894, in Courbevoie (in the Île-de-France region) to a wealthy family; his father Henri was a businessman with a passion for photography. In 1899 the family moved to Paris. In 1902 at the age of seven, Lartigue receives his first camera as a gift from his father. His work as a photographer begins here: he takes and develops his own photos at first with the help of his parent and soon after on his own. He portrays the world around him, relatives, friends and, more generally, the everyday life of the bourgeoisie. Beginning in 1904 he began with some photographic experiments. The most representative example of these trials is the overlays to create photos of “pseudo ghosts.” Automobiles and airplanes, but more generally movement, would later become among Lartigue’s favorite subjects.

In these years the philosophy that would later characterize his entire life began to emerge: the cult of happiness, the search for an idyll that could not be disturbed by deep traumas. This ideal, which is fully reflected with the period of the Belle Époque, is represented by the photographs of social evenings and elegant ladies strolling in the Bois de Boulogne, which interested him from a young age. At the same time in the midst of World War I, Lartigue decided to devote himself to painting. During these years, he also worked as a set designer, illustrator and set photographer, beginning to associate with prominent figures in the art and film worlds. Thanks to Albert Plecy, an influential figure in the world of photography in France, the Gens d’Images association was founded in 1954, and Lartigue became its vice president. The following year Lartigue exhibited his photographs for the first time at the Galerie d’Orsay, alongside the work of Brassaï, Doisneau, and Man Ray.

His name begins to circulate, but his real fortune as a photographic auteur does not come until 1963, when MoMA in New York dedicates to him the solo exhibition The Photographs of Jacques Henri Lartigue. The exhibition’s portfolio was published in the best-selling issue of Life devoted to the assassination of President Kennedy, and the photographer’s name and work became known to a very wide audience. Further exhibitions and the publication of several books devoted to his work, including The Family Album, edited by Ami Guichard in 1966, and Diary of a Century, conceived by Richard Avedon, would later bolster his fame, to the point that in 1974 he became official photographer to the French president. From then on, while continuing to photograph for himself, he would devote much of his time to commissions from fashion and decorative arts magazines. He died on September 12, 1986, in Nice, at the age of ninety-two, remaining in people’s imaginations as the privileged witness of a golden age. In 1979, Jacques Henri Lartigue donated his collection of photographs, diaries, and cameras to the French state. The works are kept at the Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, and the Donation Jacques Henri Lartigue preserves and manages the collection.

Photo: Jacques Henri Lartigue, Caroline Roussel a cousin of Jacques Henri Lartigue and Mr. Plantevigne Villerville (1906)

The Invention of Happiness. In Milan, the exhibition on Jacques Henri Lartigue

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