The green and yellow flag flies over Arles this year. In addition to the Claudia Andujar retrospective, the exhibition “Construction, Reconstruction, Deconstruction” will immerse you in Brazil from the 1930s to the 1960s, thanks to the archives of the Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante (FCCB). A collective of amateur photographers from São Paulo that played a crucial role in the evolution of Brazilian photography, but struggled to export itself.
“While recognized and established in Latin America, the São Paulo School of Photography [Escola Paulista] remains little known internationally,” observe curators Heloise Costa and Marcella Legrand Mare. No matter. They have set themselves the mission of rehabilitating their genius and their role in “the history of modern photography and its references.”
A bit of background. The FCCB, founded in 1939, emerged in a vibrant cultural context. It was a time when Brazil was witnessing the flourishing of artistic movements of international scope, characteristic of Brazilian culture, such as neo-concrete art, Cinema Novo, and Bossa Nova. It was the golden age of a society that was simultaneously conquering, modernist, and popular.
Photography is no exception to this dynamic. “The Bandeirantes embraced plural forms of photography, from conventional practice to the use of photograms, photomontages, and other interventions on reproductions and negatives, renewing ways of seeing and experiencing the city in full transition.”
The exhibition brings together 33 of them. The works of Thomaz Farkas capture fleeting moments of urban life, while the perfect geometry of José Yalenti’s compositions will captivate even the most impervious visitors to the beauty of pure lines. It is also an opportunity to discover the work of Gertrudes Altschul, of German origin, one of the few women in this very male-dominated club.
Closer to home, in the enchanting setting of Montmajour Abbey, a captivating exhibition revisits one of the most iconic works of modern architecture: Villa E-1027, designed by Irish designer Eileen Gray. Renowned photographer Stéphane Couturier recounts the tumultuous history of this architectural masterpiece, a blend of passion, rivalry, and creativity.
Built in 1929 on the French Riviera, Villa E-1027 is much more than just a house. It is a manifesto, a rallying cry for two brilliant minds: Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici. The villa’s very name, a clever code, evokes their creative union. “E for Eileen, 10 for Jean’s J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, 2 for Badovici’s B, 7 for Gray’s G,” explains Stéphane Couturier.
But this harmony would soon be disturbed. Ten years after its completion, Le Corbusier, an emblematic figure of modern architecture, appropriated the walls of the villa. “I also have a furious desire to dirty the walls,” he declared with disconcerting audacity. His murals, shamelessly imposed, were an affront to the work of Eileen Gray. The latter, hurt by this intrusion, would never set foot in her villa again.
It is this duality that Stéphane Couturier explores through his photographic series. His images, both poetic and powerful, capture the essence of this struggle between two architectural giants. The interplay of transparency, the collisions between architecture and nature, reveal a complex reality. We are faced with osmosis. Stéphane Couturier invites us to “a fusion of the arts.”
His photographs don’t just document; they tell a story. One image shows the villa bathed in light, where shadows dance on the walls. Next to it, another photograph reveals the vivid colors of Le Corbusier’s paintings blending with the clean lines of Eileen Gray’s furniture. It’s an invitation to reconciliation, to understanding the nuances that make up our reality.
The exhibition “E-1027+123”, where the 12 and the 3 symbolize Le Corbusier, encourages us to reflect on the notion of the synthesis of the arts. Stéphane Couturier reminds us that art is a dialogue, an exchange between eras and styles. Reality is shifting, unstable, ephemeral, he tells us. And it is precisely this instability that his photographs brilliantly capture.
Wandering through the abbey’s halls, one will feel a deep connection with these two creators. Their visions, though sometimes in conflict, intertwine to create a timeless work. E-1027, seen through the lens of Stéphane Couturier, becomes a space for dialogue, a place where the arts meet and reconcile. An experience not to be missed.
To continue this humanist vision, head to the Cryptoporiques of Arles with the exhibition entitled “Octahydra”. At the heart of this monumental installation, conceived as a sensory journey, the Swiss artist Batia Suter immerses us in a universe where images of buildings and artifacts, taken from old books and magazines, blend and metamorphose before our eyes in a hypnotic way.
Architect Sami Rintala is behind this original scenography. She creates a space where architecture and memory intertwine. As Francesca Marcaccio Hitzeman points out, “Batia Suter probes how and when we are subconsciously moved or triggered, transforming the viewer’s engagement with the photographic object into a visual journey.”
The face-like facades of the buildings “trigger a sense of the uncanny, interacting as though animated, revealing a nuanced tension and dissonance.” The interaction between architecture and human experience is palpable. A unique experience that will resonate long after you exit the space.
These three exhibitions can be discovered at the Les Rencontres de la photographie festival in Arles, from July 7 to October 5, 2025.
