"FOR CLAUDE AND FOR LOLEH" "When in January 1938, in Paris;" "Salvador Dali's "Taxi lluvioso" greets the first visitors... of the International Surrealist Exhibit... the press is divided between sarcam and outrage." "What to make of this world of threat and ambush ?" "André Breton was to write..." "It is since revelaed itself to be even too prophetic... even too justified..." "in terms of darkness, weirdness, overwhelming suffocation"." "to those who then accused us of relishing that atmosphere it would be easy to reply... the we are keeping ourselves well away from the blackness... and the cunning cruelty of the days to come.... if rather than blurred newspaper clips... today we have a perfect image of the event... we owe this to the eye of one woman." "Denise Bellon has grasped that unique moment in time... when post-war was becoming pre-war" "Each of her photographs shows a past... yet deciphers a future." "REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS TO COME" "How come this light is that of an impending wartime?" "An Eiffel Tower, clouds, a body." "Nothing has a date." "But everything points to the end of the thirties... the discovery of the body." "The restricted body of the 1900... the humiliated and martyrized body from 1914 to 1918... conquers its freedom." "Sport, camping, holidays, swimming, climbing..." ""franchist" nakedness the totalitarian countries will recycle... in mass demonstration." "The "Frente Popular" movement, according to what all the world says... was, for many, the discovery of the sea" "What is to discover at the sea ... that has not been seen before at the cinema?" "Discovering the sky also" "The same years witnessed the birth of amateurish skydiving" "That is what memory decodes." "In a short time, the word: "sky-diver"... would also define a warrior." "And watching someone lying down close to a river will evoke... other corpses lying down on the side of the road... left behind by the Stukas flying over." "A long distance aircraft." "A compact professional camera." "The simultaneous presence of these two objects generates photo-reporting." "Alliance Photo Agency , founded 1934." "Seize the moments, discover the world." "A new era begins." "Capa, Seymour, Pierre Boucher, Denise Bellon... start their adventure." "People of their time." "With the same enthusiasm as if they were on holiday... with the bold attitude of the weekend sky diver." "To be a photo-reporter not only is seeing... it is also holding other people's gaze." "Of a writer, like Jean Giono." "Of an actor, like Jean-Louis Barrault." "Perhaps also Henry Miller's." "A moroccan leper." "A beauty of the desert." "A little girl with a cat." "A painter with a cat." "A painter without a cat." "She will look for Picasso at his house..." "And, in Africa, the masks that inspired her." "The wild beauty that surrealists, first of them André Breton... helped her to understand." "If Breton dedicated her the first copy of one of his books... it's because their understanding is mutual and on the subject of looks, they can connect as well" ""THE COMMUNICATING VASES"" "Breton had a sharp eye, just like other people have a sharp ear." "He focused immediately on Matta, letting a few others slip away from him." "He referred to Yves Tanguy as to the "painter of horrifying elegance:... aerial, subterranean and marítime"..." "I, who would stay away from Joan Miró... and from his childish drawings for adults." "But also writes: "A work of art worth of this name ... is that which gives us back the freshness of the emotions of infancy"." "He says of Derain:" ""That an extraordinary man... of whom I hate the painting and love the conversation"." "The eye is never a victim of the cleverness... but when both converge... it's a unique encounter." "As in Marcel Duchamp." "The photograph shows us the look... that is from another century but will change ours." "A change of perspective... and it looks as if he is sensing an on-coming misunderstanding" "I wish that showing the vanity of the art... one day will serve... the art of the vanity." "The surrealists worshipping at the Cartero Cheval." "The photograph offered to the readers of the magazine." "Again Breton..." ""Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval"... magníficent labyrinth surrounded by gigantic statues... empty in its caves... shows that it is possible to put an end... to the opposition immemorial between dream... and reality. ··" "The "Facteur" looked for inspiration in the natural forms like Max Ernst when he rubbed stones together extracting landscapes." "Denise Bellon creates a surrealist work... when she photographs the footprints, the plaster casts... figures which have a pedagogical vocation and transform them in art just by the strength of her vision." "They call themselves casse'." "This expression will outlive" "Great War survivors..." "A mad "facteur" carved their faces." "They gather, they show themselves..." "They show everybody what war can do to mankind... to testify... to warn." "We know what follows." "In the case of the writer Joë Bousquet, the wound is invisible." "A bullet in the backbone in 1918... paralyzed him forever." "Simone Weil writes to him..." ""War is permanently lodged in your body." "To think of the tragedy, you must feel it"." "She looks at his tragic condition like women do... in a simple way." "The photographer wins the writer's trust and his friendship." "He liked her images." "He wrote her..." ""They show that I live in the shadow and that your hands could bring life to me"" "The emergence of the feminine press seems to be light-years away from all this nevertheless it reflects the great social revolution of the current times." "Editorial advises are a bit old-fashioned, clearly." "When the ending of a summer flirt is..." ""Our daughter's hand was asked in marriage"... we understand we are not in the year 2000." "CAN I MARRY MY BROTHER IN LAW?" "But you can also have nice surprises" "Like these two little girls... who visibly fell prey to chocolat." "For this announcement... or "propagande", as they call it now... the photographer got her two daughters to pose..." "Yannick and Loleh." "It is a page of a family album that neither the subject of society... nor the long distance reports will ever interrupt." "Yannick and Loleh, Loleh and Yannick." "That precocious exposure and the magnetism of the images... both heading towards the craft of the images?" "Yannick, cinema director." "Loleh cinema and theatre actress... and then, theatre author." "And then she appeared in her sister's images... as Yannick got her to act in her films." "Inseparable, our little chocolat lovers." "One behind the camera, the other in front of it." "One 'in sight'... the other invisible." "But always together." "Strange spring of the pre-war Paris... that it seems, in recollection, to be the only place... where the student lived... in the Jardins du Luxembourg and the Sorbonne." "Those walls, that some days will hear historical declarations... give a place to stay wise youth." "The unrestness at those times was in the Far Right... but the readings and the bars take more space then the demonstrations." "París is a livable town... with a lot of space around the cars as well as around the pedestrians." "the drivers in Citröen... but you don't say "Citröen", you say "Citrón"... you don't say "p...", you say "contredanse"... and we know that "publicite'" is called "re'clame"." "Alcohol could be advertised, and Socialism as well." ""Flic" is an insult... a "truand" is a rascal in the secondary school... one "thune", five francs... work is manual..." "París is changing slowly..." "The workers on the road look like country people... and sometimes they are country people... just landed... foreign province immigrants from the parisian point of view." "Asphalting like vine-grower would do." "There are draught horses by the Gates of the Tuileries." "Perhaps the photographes believes she can seize the 'inalterable' collecting photos of the bridges?" "The names will change." "There's a Pont Neuf, a Pont de Bercy... but there isn't a Bir Hakeim (Paris Metro -ndt-) bridge." "Nobody knows where Bir Hakeim is, nor Birkenau... and looking up the dictionary will find the description..." ""near Auschwitz"." "But the real true feeling of the pre-war France is that of its cinema." "A cinema like no other." "THE RULE OF THE GAME" "Later..." "Henri Langlois will see in the Jean Gabin of his time..." "The foreshadowing of the Resistance." "Who is Henri Langlois?" "A man who couldn't resign himself to the disappearance of the films... and of whom they say he piled up film reels in his bathtub." "As someone would ask if it was a legend..." "Denise Bellon was here going to answer." "Here, the only image of the fabulous bathroom... cradle of the entire cinematheque." "La Cinematheque Francaise, Le Musee du Cinema... true or false Musidora, posters..." "Cinema got in the culture." "During the Occupation, These treasures travelled in baby prams." "And this is also the only image remained." "How funny to imagine "Battleship Potemkin" aboard such vehicle." "time travel." "The photograph attached to Langlois' tribute to the brothers Lumière... that of Auguste Lumière himself... at the end of his life." "Thoughtful." "He would tell Melies his invention was not going to have any commercial future at all." "Denying that... did he think he had opened the Pandora's Box?" "Photography is good" "Serves to revive fainting memories... or to amaze the skeptical." ""Look, I was there"." "In front of the Cliffs at Étretat... or at the "Exposition" in 1937." "Sending a postcards is proof." "I saw outside Moskow for the first time the worker and the Vera Mujina's 'kolkosiana' .." "which will emboby U.R.S.S. in the years." "It was one of the events of the "Exposition" ." "The pavillions of the new Palais de Chaillot... are engraved with inscriptions by Paul Valéry which were very amusing for the far right." ""Half prophetic half preposterous", wrote Brasillach." "First show:" "Giraudoux's "Electra"." "Aragon had a dinner-jacket made for him for for the opening of the Pavillion Sovietique." "placing the two opposing nations' pavillions face to face the architects went much farther then the politicians." "How strange are these Universal Expositions:" "foreshadowing the catastrophe" "At the beginning of the century, the Year-1900 Expo... arrogantly stated the supremacy of Europe, as owner of the world." "Later on, Europa will plan its suicide" "It seems as if the nations on the verge of the war... evaluate their whealth like misers in their final death throes still only wishing to count their treasures" "Although in 1937..." "Treasures can hardly impress" "Peace seems fake..." "Parties seem empty..." "The fine light of 1936... is starting to wane..." "The wraiths of the "Exposition" once dismantled... will free the way to the exterminators." "In the geography books of those times there was a very recognizable pink color." "which included a vast part of Africa and a small part of Asia... which was called French Empire." ""How lucky those negroes", the children would think... to live on a pink planet"." "She first saw the beauty... and then the daily life." "she saw the markets and the hamlets." "in her first journey to the AOF..." "'Afrique occidentale francaise'." "She went in deeper, through rivers... saw the work in the woods... watch the exploitation in the diamond mines." "Saw the two faces of colonialism..." "The one that exploits... and the one that heals." "She didn't hide one nor the other." "She shared the moments of rest and attended the protocoling acts... like the visit to the Governor." "And there, a new change of direction:" "This governor will be replaced by the one who told De Gaulle... to reach the shore in Dakar." "Would he have been kept at his place... all war history might have been different." "The long trail goes north." "has its legend and its magic words..." ""Bidon Cinq"..." ""Transaharian"" "The Sahara is our Far West." "With extras: camels and tuaregs" "Americans don't have them." "At the end of the trail, the Magreb." "Ten years before the Rif War ended." "General Pétain smothered a rebellion supported by the surrealists... while a 'Quest for Unity' to soldiers and rebels... was issued by a young Communist Deputy, Jacques Doriot." ""The bastards hold the plain".." "is not a title in a racist newspaper... but a lyric in the "Banderín de la Legión"" "popular song." "The legend of the great fighting soldier of the Legion survives... although the rifle had been traded for the sword that of their Roman Legions' ancestors" "The Rif War has ended." "But Marshal Lyautey, more clear-thinking than others, wrote that the faithfulness of the people... made of "resignation and of the feeling of our strength"... is not safe from the challengers and cannot go missing suddenly··." "a sentence that predicts all the upcoming colonial wars." "But when the photographer unveils the Magreb... all is apparently at peace." "The protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia" "The travesty of the three departments of Algeria... are showing an image of a quiet region." "Nobody, not even the Left, thinks of the Independence." "North Africa is a vast area... half a quarry, half a bazaar... and France feels at home." "There, still, a feminine look is failing.." "to bring up part of the beauty of these "filles a' soldats"." "It will show wonderfully when visiting the reserved areas in Tunis" "Renoir had already painted... a "Happy girl with a sad look on her face"" "One day a Jewish wedding in Djerba." "Another day a gipsy wedding in París." "In 1939, the word "gitanes"... evoked a musician, at best... a chicken thief at worst... or a feminine noun: cigarettes." "They are called bohemien, manouche... romanichel, romani..." "And in the year 2000, in the Balkans: they will be rom... always unidentified and low profile." "Quietly the word gipsy will enter the "vocabulary" of the extermination... in second place, after the word jew." "And reading again old magazines... in the same "Match" issue... with the lovely gipsy bride on the cover... you could also read excerpts from the Mein Kampf." "Would the African leaders really read the page of the Mein Kampf... where Hitler considered them as monkeys... as the author of the article assured?" "One asks himself." "The article is entitled "The Black Army"... and presents the Moro Naba, the Emperor of the Mossi." "Behind that bombastic title... you have a leader the French entrust... with keeping the good order and charging the taxes." "We are in September 1939." "The alphabetizing effort which is being carried out in the "Black Africa"...... will find its practical application:..." "The reading of the mobilization signs." "They are the same that are stuck... on the walls in every little village of France." "Since the established rule upon the subject of article writing ... calls for a personalization of the themes... here we have Noaga, who drops his bride... for an obscure need of the western civilization" "We'd like to know what has become of Noaga... one year later... two years later... ten years later... assuming that he is going to live ten more years." "At the end of a long slanted line..." "Another country will lay out next to France and United Kingdom..." "Finland." "Their combats will be the best war films... for a special reason." "For all last year the cameramen have been training... in view of covering a major event:" "The Olympic Games of 1940." "They took place... in 1952 though, after the storm." "Finland won the admiration of the whole world because of their heroism... until it was directed against the Red Army." "An unpredictable event messed up the dates..." "The German-Russian pact." "When Hitler attacks Russia..." "Germany will finds itself ally of Finland... which accomplished a prodigy in starting the conflict on the good side... and ending it on the evil side... without changing the enemy." "Since probably these summer maneuvers were photographed... before the invasion of Poland..." "In them you have the first images of the Second World War." "A mobilized France resorted to the practises of 1914." ""Quiet, beware, the enemy is listening"." "Silence is believed necessary even more than tanks." "Pacifist voices are persecuted," "Defended by the last surrealist pamphlet." "For the first time between those of Breton and Péret... we find Denise Bellon's signature." "A magazine, outraged by the surrealist exhibit pointed that there were enough foreign names ..." "Max Ernst..." "Victor Brauner..." "The journalist should be relieved:" "In the internment camp lists ... they are in place" "The catch-phrase of this period ... sounds a bit like a surrealist proverb" "With your old scrap we'll forge our winning steel" "A curious way to start a war ... piling saucepans, heaters" "and gas burners" "A mass recruitment of containers" "On the night of August the 4th, night of the watering cans" "We already imagine the monuments ... to the Unknown Ragman, the Grateful Homeland" "Any owner of a coffee machine will think of it becoming a deadly bullet... sinking in the teutonic flesh" "At the same time, censorship spread bizarre slogans ..." "Do not mention the heroic death of the Abbeville's stationmaster who, for sure, is not dead··." "FOR VICTORY" "IF 2.000 YOUNG PEOPLE" "WILL BRING IN A WEEK... 1 KG OF SCRAP, 1 KG OF OLD RAGS 1 KG OF OLD PAPER..." "WE'LL GET A TOTAL WEIGHT OF 2 TONS" "So France is covered ... of assembled waste, sorted in rows... mobilized that we could even imagine ready to be recruited, as veterans of the Grand Armee" "For those who remember German news reports about the attack at Dunquerque this road evokes another one lined with mangled cars destroyed tanks detached tires when the winning steel becomes old junk again" "The fighters of 1914 would fight with red pants ideal target for the enemy." "In 1939/1940, the coats and hats from 1918 ... reappear unchanged." "Always 'a war late'..." "The image is passed on to the historians." "A famous film, · · A weird drama ... was going to baptize also this period ... 'weird war'." "In winter, France will learn what to expect in the coming years ... cold, hunger ... and hardship of all kinds." "On the front, nothing happens." "No shortage of gas masks, as they would never be used." "France still prepare the 1914 war." "Like Britain ... devising a mask for hens ... so they they won't notice when the alarms start· ·." "In the street trades that had already evoked other times ... wolud regain their usefulness before disappearing ... forever." "The taxi-bike would replace the car." "Photographing bikes." "Photographing the last herd of oxen crossing Lyon." "Photographing Lyon and unconsciously... reporting sites of the capital of secrecy" "Photographing le Traboules, the labyrinth only known to its inhabitants ... allowed to access the hideouts and networks." "One may not know, but should be aware" "One may not know, but repairing a radio ... already opens a crack in the wall." "The sweetness of these last peaceful nights... midnight on the floodlit Pont Neuf... soon to be the image ... of paradise lost." "Charles Dullin prepares the staging of Darius Milhaud's Medea..." "The premiere should take place the eighth of May 1940." "There will be three shows the tenth of May, the German offensive kicks off... and the 'weird war' ends." "It is also the end of Alliance Photo ... six years that had changed photojournalism." "Some will join Capa and found Magnum Agency in New York." "For Denise Bellon, born as Denise Hulmann..." "It is not a question of large 'reportages' anymore" "The photography the she has in mind, is devoted to the most harmless subjects." "Lyon, her refuge, will be available." "And will see the whole Parisian press withdrawing" "There will be, therefore, two Paris-Soir ... one in Paris and the other in Lyon, with the same name." "A lot of work for archivists." "?" "Only one Figaro and only Action Française ... with Charles Maurras." "This uncompromising nationalist ... anti-German and anti-Jew ... writes that if death penalty is not enough ... to put the Gaullists activism to an end then they will need to kidnap members of their families ... and executing all of them" "L'Action Française, January 3, 1944." "Photographing nature ... photographing friends ... photograph daughters who grow ... a newborn child." "Photographing ... while waiting ... comin across, in Marseille, in time to capture the devastated harbour." "One day, 'La Colombe De L'Arche':" "A newspaper vendor, of real newspapers ... ?" "once again possible to publish" "First reportages are also the most intriguing ..." "The Spanish Republican guerrilla in the Pyrenees." "In 1944?" "In 1944." "An attempt at reconquering Franco's Spain by the Republicans with the invasion of the Val D'Aran" "A crazy, suicidal venture." "Counting, as Che did in Bolivia ... on the population, that won't move though" "Hard to calculate the casualties." "The two sides tend to confusing figures and propaganda." "The consequences will be disastrous for the Spanish Communist Party ... the failure of the operation will prompt adjustment to future countings" "This episode happens to be forgotten in most books ... and these photos ... might be the only trace left to history." "When the two sisters return to Saint-Germain-des-Pres ... hardly the mythical place the press reports... but just a village of friends." "Pretty faces are going to meet ..." "Serge Reggiani ..." "Gérard Philipe ..." "Roger Blin." "In the role of the gay owl ..." "Jacques Prévert who decides to publish ... the poems which he always carried with him." "Denise Bellon reunited with her beloved surrealists." "Also there the war had passed" "Desnos died deported." "Dali became Franchist." "Matta had Breton excluding him without much consideration." "Never mind, in the end they'll find each other again" "You don't discard a work" "A new surrealist exhibition takes place in 1947." "The shock of the century has occurred between two small islands of quaintness... like between two hands." "But one thing does not change ..." "The insults are the same as in 1938." "At the same time, the adjective 'surrealist' that had aged ... is becoming irresistibly fashionable." "Everything that moves away from the reason ... is described as surreal." "What remains of the original revolt?" "With its delusions, its unbearable aspects ... their chain of excommunications... political trials" "The surrealist movement implied, sometimes without knowing it ... a demand for freedom ... that 'indestructible core of the night' of which Breton talked about with regards to something different." "His friendship with the Surrealists had exposed Denise Bellon... to this secret radiation ... which not only influenced her vision but will be faithful to her forever." "In the falsely natural set of the Desert de Retz..." "They gather one last time." "The whole group poses ... with the ephemeral severity of a class photo." "And despite everything, they are once again prophetic... the story of the end of the century will be that of their masks." "Leave, never to return ... being no more than for myself... the remembrance of things to come... thought for mankind." "Claude Roy"