Rome, February 23rd – Villa Medici is set to host a significant exhibition celebrating the photographic legacy of the acclaimed French filmmaker Agnès Varda. The exhibition, titled “Agnès Varda. Here and There Between Paris and Rome,” will open to the public on February 25th and run until May 25th, offering a comprehensive look at Varda’s versatile artistic talent.
Varda’s Italian Gaze: A Picturesque and Poetic Journey
The exhibition features two main focuses: one on Varda’s images captured in Italy and another on her French photographs. Carole Sandrin, head of photographic collections at the Institut pour la photographie and curator of the “Agnès Varda’s Italy” section, highlights Varda’s early encounters with the country.
“A picturesque and poetic Italy of the late 1950s, through photos taken to scout locations, primarily for her film La Mélangite (which she ultimately did not direct) in Venice, a city that had already triggered a ‘plastic emotion’ in Varda in 1955. And an Italy as a land of cinema, with a portrait of Visconti and her visit to the set of Godard’s Contempt at Cinecittà in 1963,” explained Sandrin.
Paris: The Heart of Her Artistic Creation
Varda, a passionate portraitist of Paris, made the city the core of her artistic creation for over 70 years. Her gaze, never neutral, extended to Italy, as evidenced by the exhibition. The Roman show complements “Agnès Varda’s Paris,” an exhibition from the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, curated by Anne de Mondenard. This broader project is the result of over two years of research based on Varda’s photographic archive and the archives of Ciné-Tamaris, her production company, now managed by her children, Rosalie Varda and Mathieu Demy.
A Multifaceted Talent: Beyond the “Grandmother of the Nouvelle Vague”
This double exhibition provides a valuable opportunity to explore the multifaceted talent of the great filmmaker, who passed away on March 29, 2019, at the age of ninety. Often referred to as the “grandmother of the Nouvelle Vague,” Varda herself explained, “I had simply started before them” – referring to Truffaut, Godard, Rivette, Chabrol, and Rohmer. Her debut film, La Pointe Courte, was released in 1954 when she was just 25 years old.
Throughout her artistic journey, which includes a Golden Lion in 1985 for Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi), an honorary Palme d’Or, and an Academy Honorary Award, Varda continuously experimented with various forms and mediums.
Influences and Key Moments: Botti, Calder, and JR
The Villa Medici exhibition also showcases works by artists such as Giancarlo Botti, Alexander Calder, and JR, who were influenced by Varda. It emphasizes the significance of 1954 at her courtyard-studio on rue Daguerre, a hub of life and work she later shared with her partner, director Jacques Demy. Paris is undeniably her muse, depicted in her images, films, and documentaries.
Varda’s Unique Perspective on Real People
However, discovering “her” Italy offers a particularly interesting insight. “She visited Venice for the first time in 1955,” says Carole Sandrin. “When she returned in 1959, she had a film idea in mind and continued to use photography to realize it – La Mélangite, which remained on paper. What the images show is her gaze on real people.” This includes passengers on vaporettos, young people, children, women doing laundry, and cats.
Encounters with Visconti and Godard
Varda returned to Italy in 1963, by then an established filmmaker after Cleo from 5 to 7, commissioned by Réalités magazine to photograph Luchino Visconti. “She took more than 80 photos, in color and black and white,” Sandrin noted. She also visited Cinecittà to see her friend Jean-Luc Godard on the set of Contempt.
Meeting Brigitte Bardot
“During this brief visit, with her Leica at hand, she seems impressed by Brigitte Bardot. She photographed her spontaneously, in close-up, during breaks. The contact sheets reveal how she focused her gaze on the actress and the film in the making,” Sandrin added. It was the gaze of a pioneer, distinct from all others.
The exhibition promises to be a compelling journey through the eyes of an artist who redefined visual storytelling, bridging the gap between photography and cinema with unparalleled sensitivity and innovation.
