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Desire to See

Photographs by Agnès Varda

February 29 – April 13, 2024

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Images

Alexander Calder (1898-1976) with 21 White Sheets (1953), Paris, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Alexander Calder (1898-1976) with 21 White Sheets (1953), Paris, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

14 3/16 x 13 13/16 in.

Self-portrait on the set of "Ô saisons ô châteaux", Azay-le-Rideau, France, 1957, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Self-portrait on the set of "Ô saisons ô châteaux", Azay-le-Rideau, France, 1957

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

11 7/8 x 12 3/16 in.

Fidel Castro, the man with rock wings, Havana, Cuba, 1963, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 2/20

Fidel Castro, the man with rock wings, Havana, Cuba, 1963

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 2/20
Signed, titled, numbered recto

16 1/16 x 11 7/8 inches

La Terrasse du Corbusier, Marseille, France, 1956, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

La Terrasse du Corbusier, Marseille, France, 1956

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

11 3/4 x 18 1/4 in.

Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), Jacques ou la Soumission, played at the Huchette Theater, Paris, December, 1955, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), Jacques ou la Soumission, played at the Huchette Theater, Paris, December, 1955

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Stamped verso

17 1/4 x 15 9/16 in.

Girl from the Ardennes, France, 1955, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Girl from the Ardennes, France, 1955

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso on mount verso

15 3/4 x 12 in.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989), Port Llegas, Spain, Summer, 1955, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15

Salvador Dali (1904-1989), Port Llegas, Spain, Summer, 1955

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 3/16 x 15 3/4 in.

Salt, Sète, France, 1951, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 9/10

Salt, Sète, France, 1951

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 9/10
Signed, titled, dated, numbered verso

11 13/16 x 17 3/4 inches

Ulysse, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Normandy, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 10/10

Ulysse, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Normandy, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 10/10
Signed, titled, dated, numbered verso
11 11/16 x 15 13/16 inches
 

Fisherman in la Pointe Courte, Sète, France, 1953, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Fisherman in la Pointe Courte, Sète, France, 1953

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/8 x 15 13/16 in.

Woman walking with basket from behind, Sevilla, Spain, November, 1956, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Woman walking with basket from behind, Sevilla, Spain, November, 1956

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

11 7/8 x 11 3/4 in.

Ladies dancing at a ball in Sète, France, 1953, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Ladies dancing at a ball in Sète, France, 1953

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

11 3/4 x 13 5/8 in.

Sophia Loren in Portugal, 1956, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

Sophia Loren in Portugal, 1956

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

16 7/16 x 11 3/4 in.

Cuba, 1963, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Cuba, 1963

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Annotated recto; Titled, stamped verso

7 x 6 15/16 in.

Rome, Italy, 1963, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Rome, Italy, 1963

Silver Gelatin Photograph
Stamped verso

10 13/16 x 15 1/2 inches
 

Young woman with a dove (Frédérique Bourguet, 1925-1997), Paris, 1949, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Young woman with a dove (Frédérique Bourguet, 1925-1997), Paris, 1949

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Stamped verso

9 7/16 x 7 1/16 in.

Giant on the set of Du côté de la côte, Nice, France, 1958, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Giant on the set of Du côté de la côte, Nice, France, 1958

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Stamped verso

15 5/8 x 15 1/2 in.

Federico Fellini at Porte de Vanves, Paris for the opening of "La Strada", 1955, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Federico Fellini at Porte de Vanves, Paris for the opening of "La Strada", 1955

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

11 3/4 x 14 7/8 in.

Harrison Ford, Los Angeles, 1968, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Harrison Ford, Los Angeles, 1968

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

11 7/8 x 17 3/4 in.

Anouk Aimée in the Passage Pommeraye, Nantes, France, while shooting "Lola," 1960, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Anouk Aimée in the Passage Pommeraye, Nantes, France, while shooting "Lola," 1960

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

17 3/4 x 11 7/8 in.

Anna Karina and Rosalie Varda, Paris, May, 1960, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Anna Karina and Rosalie Varda, Paris, May, 1960

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

17 3/7 x 11 13/16 in.

Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet, n.d., Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet, n.d.

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered, print date verso

17 3/4 x 22 1/16 in.

Delphine Seyrig, 1960, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Delphine Seyrig, 1960

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered, print date verso

17 3/4 x 11 15/16 in.

Jacques Demy, Los Angeles, 1968, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Jacques Demy, Los Angeles, 1968

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

11 7/8 x 17 3/4 in.

Jeanne Moreau, 1962, Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Jeanne Moreau, 1962

Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 5

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

11 13/16 x 17 3/4 in.

Three shepherds drinking coffee, Camargue, France, c. 1959, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Three shepherds drinking coffee, Camargue, France, c. 1959

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

11 13/16 x 18 1/8 in.

Schoolgirls wearing face masks and googles (to protect them from sand from the Gobi Desert), China, 1957

Schoolgirls wearing face masks and googles (to protect them from sand from the Gobi Desert), China, 1957
Silver Gelatin Photograph
Stamped verso

14 5/8 x 16 11/16 inches

Merchant, China, 1957, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 5

Merchant, China, 1957

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 5

Signed by Agnès Varda, stamped, titled, dated, numbered, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

18 1/8 x 18 1/2 in.

Mardi Gras, Luxembourg Park, Paris, 1953, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Mardi Gras, Luxembourg Park, Paris, 1953

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/8 x 11 5/8 in.

Nude sitting on a bench, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Nude sitting on a bench, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/8 x 11 5/8 in.

Nude, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Nude, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/4 x 11 13/16 in.

Nude looking like a walnut, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Nude looking like a walnut, rue Daguerre, Paris, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/16 x 11 13/16 in.

Crackled photograph of a vase by Valentine Schelegel, Paris, ca. 1958, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Crackled photograph of a vase by Valentine Schelegel, Paris, ca. 1958

Silver Gelatin Photograph
Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

16 1/4 x 12 1/2 inches

Potato Series, Heart Potato #8, 2002, C-print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #8, 2002

C-print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered verso

15 3/4 x 12 3/16 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #2, 2002/2011, C-Print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #2, 2002/2011

C-Print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated numbered verso

12 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #5, 2002, C-Print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #5, 2002

C-Print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated numbered verso

12 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #9, 2002, C-print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #9, 2002

C-print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered verso

12 3/16 x 15 13/16 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #11, 2002, C-Print, Ed.of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #11, 2002

C-Print, Ed.of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered verso

12 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #6, 2002, C-Print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #6, 2002

C-Print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered verso

12 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #7, 2002, C-Print, Ed. of 10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #7, 2002

C-Print, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered verso

12 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Potato Series, Heart Potato #4, 2002/2011, C-Print, Ed. 4/10

Potato Series, Heart Potato #4, 2002/2011

C-Print, Ed. 4/10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated numbered verso

12 3/16 x 15 13/16 in.

 

Guy Bourdin in ruins, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Normandy, 1954, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15

Guy Bourdin in ruins, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Normandy, 1954

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15
Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

15 3/4 x 11 13/16 inches

Mosaic Self-portrait, Paris, 1949, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 3/10

Mosaic Self-portrait, Paris, 1949

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 3/10
Signed, titled, dated, numbered, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

15 1/8 x 13 inches
 

Dorothee Blank lying under Calder mobile in Agnès’s studio, rue Daguerre, Paris, ca. 1958, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15

Dorothee Blank lying under Calder mobile in Agnès’s studio, rue Daguerre, Paris, ca. 1958

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 1/15
Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 3/16 x 11 7/16 inches

Black Panthers meeting for the liberation of Huey P. Newton, Oakland, ca. 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Black Panthers meeting for the liberation of Huey P. Newton, Oakland, ca. 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

10 7/16 x 16 1/8 in.

Black Panthers meeting for the liberation of Huey P. Newton, Oakland, California, 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Black Panthers meeting for the liberation of Huey P. Newton, Oakland, California, 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Stamped verso
9 5/16 x 11 1/16 inches

Love In, Dancing, Los Angeles, 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Love In, Dancing, Los Angeles, 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

15 1/2 x 10 3/8 in.

Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed, titled, recto; Dated verso

23 3/8 x 15 5/8 in.

Watts Towers, Los Angeles, ca. 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Watts Towers, Los Angeles, ca. 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

16 1/8 x 10 7/16 in.

San Francisco, ca. 1968, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

San Francisco, ca. 1968

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped, numbered verso

10 11/16 x 15 3/4 in.

Self-portrait with Bellini painting, Venice, Italy, 1960, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

Self-portrait with Bellini painting, Venice, Italy, 1960

Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10

Signed by Agnès Varda, titled, dated, numbered, Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

15 x 22 1/4 in.

Juan Llorca (father of Ulysse), rue Daguerre, Paris, 1952, Silver Gelatin Photograph

Juan Llorca (father of Ulysse), rue Daguerre, Paris, 1952

Silver Gelatin Photograph

Signed by Estate Executor, Estate stamped verso

15 1/2 x 11 1/8 in.

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Press Release

Desire to See:

Photographs by Agnès Varda

February 29 through April 13, 2024

Exhibition Reception: Thursday, February 29th

Exhibition Walk-through with Rosalie Varda: Saturday, March 2nd

 The Fahey/Klein Gallery is pleased to present “Desire to See: Photographs by Agnès Varda”, the first exhibition in the United States dedicated exclusively to Agnès Varda’s photographic work. This retrospective exhibition delves into the rich photographic history of the French New Wave filmmaker and provides a comprehensive visual narrative of Varda’s life and creative pursuits through a diverse selection of photographs spanning from vintage lifetime prints developed and printed by Varda to newly discovered posthumous works.

“Desire to See: Photographs by Agnès Varda” showcases Varda’s self-portraits, offering an introspective look into the artist’s identity alongside portraits of fellow artists (Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí, Delphine Seyrig, Federico Fellini, Catherine Deneuve, Luchino Visconti, and more), highlighting her radical vision and passionate engagement with the world.  Documentary photographs from her extensive travels through diverse locations such as Cuba, China, and Los Angeles, as well as her beloved home in Paris, illustrate her keen observational eye. Varda’s photographic career predates her filmmaking and intersects fluidly throughout her six decades of creative pursuits. Still photographs often influenced and inspired her films, as is the case of Le Pointe Courte and Ulysse, and likewise filmmaking was the subject and context for her still photographs. Varda’s eternally free spirit guided her restless curiosity and imagination while defining a strong, clear, experimental, feminine voice visible within every frame.

Agnès Varda, (1928 – 2019), was a film director, screenwriter, photographer, and visual artist. Born in Belgium, she studied art history and photography, working as a professional photographer before making her first feature film in 1954 at the age of 26, the ultra-low budget independent film La Pointe Courte. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film movement of the late 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on art history, literature, and philosophy, her films, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary with a distinctive experimental style. Throughout her life she maintained a fluid interrelationship between photographic and cinematic forms.

Varda produced some of her most significant work in Los Angeles. Moving to L.A. in 1967 with her husband, filmmaker Jacques Demy. Living in Beverly Hills, driving a convertible, and mingling with movie stars and directors, among them Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Varda made three films in L.A., Lions Love (…and Lies), Uncle Yanco and Black Panthers, films made in response to Varda’s keen awareness of the politically and socially charged times of the day. Agnès Varda returned to L.A. alone in 1981 to film Murs Murs and Documenteur, intent on turning the mirror back onto the City of Angels.

During the last 15 years of her life, Agnès Varda continued to explore ways to bring her work into totally new and exciting contexts. In 2003 Hans Ulrich Obrist invited Varda to participate in the Venice Art Biennale with Patatutopia, a three-screen video installation complete with 700 kilos of potatoes, giving her renewed vigor and engagement. She was now “not an old filmmaker but a young visual artist.”

 In 2017 Varda joined forces with French photographer and artist, JR, to make Faces Places, an unlikely collaboration in which the two traverse rural France in search of lost traditions and changing mores. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

In 2015 Varda was awarded the Palme d’or d’honneur for lifetime achievement at the Cannes Film Festival. She received an honorary Oscar in 2017, becoming the first female filmmaker to receive the award. Varda died in Paris in 2019 at the age of 91.

The work of Agnès Varda is featured in many international collections such as: the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain (Paris), the FRAC Lorraine (France), the MoMA (New York), the Musée Paul Valéry (France), the CAFA Art Museum (Bejing China), the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez (France), and LACMA (Los Angeles), Le Centre Pompidou (Paris).

Director’s Inspiration: Agnes Varda is currently on view at The Academy Film Museum, Los Angeles until January 5, 2025. Viva Varda, a retrospective organized by the Cinémathèque Francaise will open at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, July 2024. Hans Ulrich Obrist Archive, Chapter Three: Agnes Varda is at LUMA Arles, Arles, France through May 2024.

“Desire to See: Photographs by Agnès Varda” is curated in collaboration with Rani Singh.

 

Press images available on request

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