This wonderful phoography show starts with a brief intro/bio containing the appalling news that Salomon was gassed at Auschwitz, which put the whole show beyond the pale for me; I went through it cursing the Germans, the Nazis and everyone else who snuffs out talent because of race or color or ethnicity or religion. Because he was incredibly talented as the show shows so well.
The subtitle of this exhibition is “le roi des indiscrets” which really doesn’t translate in the “King of the Indiscretes” as they have tried to, but rather, he should be called the “Father of the Hidden Camera.” Which I sure didn’t know.
I thought it was Alan Funt, un unh - several decades before, this good Doctor (of Law) had hidden cameras in flowers, snuck off pix of forbidden court-rooms and hidden in bathrooms before exclusive functions, only to surprise his victims with great prints later on.
He shot the greats of his time: Einstein, Bruno Walter, Deitrich (stunningly gorgeous), Gigli, Upton Sinclair and most famously, Aristide Briand (the politician/diplomat) not to be confused with Aristide Bruant (he of the red scarf and Montmartre cabaret scene) – whom he snapped delightedly pointing at Salomon and saying : there he is, the “roi des indiscrets.”
There is an equally wonderful film at the end made by the Netherlands Film folks that captures his life so very accurately, beautifully and lovingly that you weep at the end when the train goes off to Theresienstadt, then Auschwitz. How very, how indescribably, sad.
Well this certainly seems like a show to see. Thank you, John.
Posted by: Lucy | November 26, 2008 at 09:37 PM