Cabotinages - Poses à poils

46 pages
17 x 12.2 cm 
Language: French
Softcover
Publisher: BnF éditions
2019

This new opus of "L'œil curieux" brings together some forty images of personalities: Colette, Zola, Sacha Guitry, Brassens, Picasso, Léo Ferré... posing with their pets. Chosen from the collections of the BnF, these photographs taken between 1850 and 1960 reveal an unexpected, funny and touching form of animal portraiture.
Made by professionals or amateurs, in the studio or on location, the photographic portrait, like the painted portrait since the Renaissance, responds to well established codes. The staging or the absence of staging contribute to emphasize a world or a person; the decor, the clothing, the attitude are obviously crucial, but also the accessories which evoke the social status, the profession or the leisure activities. In this respect, the animal is present in the long tradition of the painted portrait, but its image is less frequent than one might think in the photographic portrait.