In the 60s to 80s, Charles Bébert, journalist-reporter-photographer (who has just been awarded a medal of honor and recognition by the City of Nice) immortalized in black and white with his Foka camera some of the most beautiful places in the Riviera capital: the Promenade des Anglais, Place Masséna, Avenue de la Victoire (now Avenue Jean-Médecin) the port…
As many emblematic places as his son, Stéphane Bébert, head of the “Chasseur d’images” archive and scenographer of the exhibition Yesterday’s Nice… through the lens of Charles Bébertexhumed from his father’s thousands of negatives. Not without a certain emotion, which awakened his desire to make us rediscover 28 nuggets, in XXL format.
This exhibition, which can be discovered in the form of a route going from the Prom’ to the gardens of the Villa Masséna, is a succession of snapshots taken from life, like so many windows opening onto a bygone era, mixing glamorous memories and scenes from daily life.
Gabin, les Beatles, Audrey Hepburn
A true common thread in these photos, skillfully staged in the form of triptychs arranged in the very places where certain photos were taken: celebrities passing through the Côte d’Azur.
From the Beatles, photographed on June 29, 1965 as they got off the plane at Nice airport, to the sublime Audrey Hepburn surprised inside her car parked in front of the La Victorine studios, during the filming of the film Travel for two, in 1966, through Marlène Jobert (in 1972 at the Cannes Film Festival) or Jean Gabin posing at Thiers station in front of arriving travelers, each photo tells a story.
We also discover Dizzy Gillespie at the carnival, Annie Cordy and Luis Mariano, on tour, on a flower battle float, Lionel Hampton welcomed on the tarmac by the great jazz parade, Martine Carol surrounded by a whole group of baggage handlers at the airport, or Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to have gone into space, making a triumphant arrival on the old Victory Avenue.
All blending into the local landscape, alongside the Niçoises and the Niçois. Far from playing the role of inaccessible divas, like certain very ephemeral glories of our 21ste century.
On the Prom side, César poses in front of the Palais de la Méditerranée. Not far from Miss New York 1966, who came for the inauguration of the first Nice-New York flight, all smiles next to the Negresco. And the famous liner “France” cruising in the Bay of Angels.
On the anonymous side, a saleswoman in her newsstand, the arrival of travelers at the station, supporters at the Stade du Ray or the carnival thus reactivate the memory of a daily life so far away so close.
Completing the exhibition Nice, my city, my neighborhoodpresented at the Villa Masséna, Yesterday’s Nice… through the lens of Charles Bébertis an off-site photographic installation to be discovered until January 20 in the heart of the green spaces of the Masséna museum, a first.
Thus, it is also possible to explore the exhibition in the form of a final guided tour with Stéphane Bébert, Saturday January 11 (1).
Another look, at another era. And a precious testimony about our elders.
>>Yesterday’s Nice… through the lens of Charles Bébert. Until January 20. Promenade des Anglais and gardens of Villa Masséna in Nice. Free. www.massena-nice.org
1. Guided tour Saturday January 11. Meet in front of the Negresco Hotel at 2:30 p.m. Duration of the visit: 45 minutes. Free. Registration at: [email protected]
