Studio Lévin - Maison de la photographie Robert Doisneau

Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
1, rue de la Division du Général Leclerc
94250 Gentilly, France
www.maisondoisneau.agglo-valdebievre.fr
PRESS
KIT
The Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
is an establishment of the Public Territorial GrandOrly Val-de-Bièvre Seine-Amont
CONTACTS
Olivier Bourgoin
agence révélateur
+33 (0)6 63 77 93 68
olivierbourgoin@agencerevelateur.fr
Robert Pareja
Maison Doisneau
+33 (0)1 55 01 04 85
r.pareja@agglo-valdebievre.fr
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Studio Lévin
Sam Lévin & Lucienne Chevert
EXHIBITION FROM JUNE 17TH TO
SEPTEMBRE 25TH 2016 AT THE
MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
ROBERT DOISNEAU, GENTILLY
____________________________
EXHIBITION CO-PRODUCED BY THE
MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
ROBERT DOISNEAU, GENTILLY
AND THE MÉDIATHÈQUE DE
L’ARCHITECTURE ET DU PATRIMOINE,
PARIS
THE MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE ROBERT DOISNEAU IS MEMBER OF
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Studio Lévin
Sam Lévin & Lucienne Chevert
Curators
MICHAËL HOULETTE
and MATTHIEU RIVALLIN
THE STORY OF A STUDIO
There was of course the man, his unique
career and the name that made the
reputation of the portrait studio. But there
was also the assistant, or more the
precisely talented associate. In any case,
you certainly can’t talk about Studio Lévin
without telling the story of this duo,
without describing their ‘four-handed
photography’. Indeed it is very difficult to
distinguish the work of Sam Lévin from
that of Lucienne Chevert amongst a
production of more than 250,000 photos
shot over nearly half a century of what was
almost a joint career.
The history of Studio Lévin can be divided
up into different periods, defined by
ruptures with the past and changes in style.
As the two photographers worked in
concert, from 1934 to 1983, the focus was
only ever on evolving and constant
renewal. Their longevity can be explained
by an aptitude for change and the ease
with which they steered their way through
the troubled waters of a society going
through a period of transformation. The
‘Lévin way’ reflected the fashions and
customs and embodied the tastes and
dreams of periods as different as the
interwar years and the Sixties.
The adventure started in 1934 in a
Parisian apartment on Rue Saint-Georges.
It was here that Sam Lévin received the
models he had met on film sets in his
former living room transformed into a
photo studio. It wasn’t long before he was
joined by Lucienne Chevert and, in 1937,
Studio Lévin moved to Rue du Faubourg
Saint-Honoré. In 1942 however Sam
Lévin, a Jew, had to flee to unoccupied
France. Lucienne Chevert took over the
studio in her own name in order to avoid
the confiscation of their business in Paris.
and its leading men and women and then
singers who in the 1960s would find
themselves very much in the public eye.
and light; gentle shades of black and
white making faces sublime; bodies
sculpted by diffusely-lit atmospheres,
touches of light and either dark or radiant
backgrounds.
Sam Lévin and Lucienne Chevert’s talent
was recognised almost from the off, but
that didn’t mean it was just about creating
works of art. Their production was geared
to the market so they had to adapt their
ingenuity to suit the commission and the
customs of the times. There was work as
still photographers, fashion and
advertising photos, but above all portraits.
Even today, it is through the inventive
eyes of these two photographers that we
contemplate the faces of Martine Carol,
Gina Lollobrigida, Claude François and,
last but not least, Brigitte Bardot (whom
Sam Lévin would follow throughout his
career). It was Studio Lévin that
fashioned these images of celebrity,
After the war the studio got bigger with
the addition of a photo library and
laboratory. An area was converted into a
reception room for the actors, singers and
At the end of the 1930s, a Studio
models who came to put their image in
Lévin portrait was above all based on a
the capable hands of what had become
technique, a sophisticated use of lighting
one of Paris’ most famous studios. In
inspired by the films sets where both Sam 1948 the studio signed a contract with
Lévin and Lucienne Chevert started out
Unifrance (a key organisation promoting
and continued to work regularly. There
French films abroad). Over the next
are a lot of similarities between the
twenty years, everybody who was
aesthetic of their photos and the cinema of anybody walked through the doors of the
the period: a subtle harmony of shadow
Faubourg-Saint-Honoré premises to have
their portrait taken. The studio also
worked closely with Barclay records,
FROM JUNE 17TH TO
taking the photos used by the label to
SEPTEMBER 25TH
illustrate the covers of its albums.
Right from the start, the studio was
characterised by a clientele almost
exclusively composed of well-known
personalities or people on the up and up:
not many ordinary people, a few models
and above all actors and actresses. Soon
an entire generation of singers would also
pass in front of the camera in the famous
studio. In fact Sam Lévin and Lucienne
Chevert’s entourage was above all to be
found in show business: first the cinema
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elaborating in a fictional universe bathed
in artificial light the portraits that would
feature on the pages of glossy magazines
or be sold as postcards and posters.
Portraits were items of promotional
merchandise whose function was to act as
an intermediary between the celebrity and
the general public, between the idols and
their groupies. The portrait was both an
intimate and collective object, one that
created desire and maintained the power of
seduction.
THE LÉVIN PORTRAIT
From the sober black and white
sophistication of the pre-war years, the
studio moved on to colour after the war.
Just a few years later and it was employing
with obvious delight the wide range of
colours characteristic of the Sixties, before
moving on to the fluorescent exuberance
of Seventies’ disco. By experimenting
with new colours, new decors and new
kinds of lighting, Studio Lévin moved
away from the idea that portraits had to be
timeless. As the studio’s practice followed
changing style codes, it also asserted its
own way of doing things preferring
dazzling movement to the frozen
magnificence of the sublime portraits of
the past. A portrait had to be a living thing
and thereby reduce the distance between
the image and the magazine reader, or
those who collected images of stars. One
constant in the studio’s work however was
an element of austerity: even in the most
animated of poses, even in the most
expressive choice of mise en scène, an
economy of means and a form of
minimalism prevailed.
But the ‘Lévin model’ cannot be reduced
to its purely visual aspect. Portraiture for
Studio Lévin was also a question of
human experiences and relationships. By
appropriating the style codes of each
different period and using them in a
whole new way, one for which they were
not originally intended, Sam Lévin and
Lucienne Chevert were applying their
imaginativeness to portraying the unique
nature of the men and women whose
photos they were taking. If they resorted
to various tricks and mannerisms, they
kept in mind that what is at stake in
portraiture is bringing out the character of
one’s model by means of an individual
and personalised representation.
Taking photos was all about exchanges.
The essence of their talent lay in their
capacity to convey through the portrait
the alchemy of a face-to-face encounter.
Improvisation and theatricality, artifice
and gesture all had their role to play in
revealing the fictitious or real person.
Sessions moved from theatrical emphasis
to falsely ingenuous moments of abandon
because, like experienced film directors,
the photographers jealously guarded the
control of the session. Close-ups provided
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an intimate look at faces and expressive
eyes; wide-angle shots let the body do the
talking. A smile became bewitching, a
gesture seductive and from seduction we
slipped towards the world of dreams. The
model was like a theme around which
different camera angles, distances and
lighting arrangements were invented. Just
like the celebrities themselves, one
portrait followed another in Studio Lévin,
but no two were alike.
By presenting images that haven’t been
reframed, this exhibition invites visitors
to understand the true nature of the
photographer’s practice and profession.
It reveals the nature of the archive
without detracting from the quality of
the images. Negatives and Ektachromes
present before our eyes a wide range of
intentions. By pointing to what lies just
beyond the frame, they allow us to
understand the context of the photo shoot,
to follow as closely as possible the
photographer’s thought processes and t
o turn back the hands of time to the
very moment when the model reveals his/
her true self. Laid out for all to see are t
he details of what goes on behind the
scenes, the inner workings and the
technical tinkering used to create an
effect. We discover that to take a
successful photo, a whole arsenal of
technical paraphernalia is required,
composed of tripods, spotlights,
reflectors, cables, platforms, curtains and
coloured backcloths. And we finally
realise that a photographer rarely works
alone, but is always surrounded by
helpers and assistants, by costumers
and make-up artists.
Dalida, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Claude François, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Sylvie Vartan, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Martine Carol, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
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Tamer of circus, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
These images may be used copyright free
by the press for the sole purpose of
promoting the exhibition at the Maison de
la Photographie Robert Doisneau and
only during the duration of the latter.
Sam Lévin with actress Gina Lollobrigida, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Studio, Boulogne-Billancourt, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Vince Taylor, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Martine Sira, undated
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
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Viviane Romance on the shooting Prisons de femmes, 1937
© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist.
RMN-Grand Palais / Sam Lévin
Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
1, rue de la Division du Général Leclerc
94250 Gentilly, France
FROM WEDNESDAY UNTIL FRIDAY FROM 1:30 PM UNTIL 6:30 PM
ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
FROM 1:30 PM UNTIL7 PM
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