An exhibition not to be missed by the famous French photographer Raymond Depardon, at the National Museum of Sport in Nice in the plain of Var. More precisely, its photographic coverage, for decades, of the Olympic Games. The exhibition lasts until February 17, 2019.
Depardon the photographer
Over the exhibitions, we had become accustomed to depicting Depardon's images, claiming, with application, to show, highlight, the "dead times": villages without life, desertification of the countryside, calm and almost banal landscapes in the depths of France campaigns. A sort of photographer's label of peripheral France, a little like Ivan Jablonka in his terrible account of the murder, mediatized, not to say politicized, "Laetitia".
The Dutch presidential portrait by Depardon resumed in a certain way this atmosphere that some called normal ..., a little faded ... forgetting in passing the sociological and documentary work of the photographer.
In the heat of sports action and the Olympics
Ici, au contraire, lors de ces 5 couvertures photographiques de Jeux Olympiques (Tokyo 64, Grenoble 68, Mexico 68, Munich 72, Montréal 76) l’atmosphère bouillonne, virevolte. Les corps, les muscles, se surpassent, les visages se crispent puis explosent de joie, de déception, ou de peine, un peu comme dans le stade Allianz Riviera (sous lequel se trouve le musée), les soirs de grand match…
Les athlètes s’offrent à la vue du monde entier par le prisme des photographes de presse et des télévisions. « Reporter sans frontières » propose d’ailleurs un ouvrage recueillant les images affichées ici à Nice mais le plaisir de voir ces photos en grandes tailles permet indiscutablement de mieux les apprécier. Le grain apparaît sensiblement mieux sur les tirages de grandes tailles que sur les impressions presse du catalogue.
A beautiful layout and great photos for this Olympic retrospective
The photographer captures the decisive moment, in the arena but also on the side of the spectators. He does not forget to fix the events of his time (Munich hostage, first Fosbory backstroke, cold war climate in the USSR, fight against segregation etc.). Various public figures appear, such Charles De Gaulle standing in his vehicle surrounded by the Republican Guard, arriving at the winter Olympics in Grenoble in 1968.
The exhibition hosts more than 130 photos, all in black and white, magnificently arranged in a large, rounded luminous space. Very useful explanations dot the walk. Some texts are also displayed in English and Italian, a salutary idea considering the international character of our beautiful Riviera region.
Pédagogie photographique
The icing on the cake, the exhibition proposes a central island with pedagogical vocation presenting four devices used (Leica R3 ...) by Depardon but also some technical explanations on, for example, the framing, the point of view, the plan etc.
A beautiful exhibition not to be missed so, taking advantage of the passage to visit the National Museum of Sport and why not attend a game of Aiglons OGC Nice. Fans of photography will be able, in the city center this time to discover the images of Berenice Abbott at the Museum of photography of the city of Nice.
Nice Sport museum official website http://www.museedusport.fr/