Jean Cocteau only directed six films, spending far more energy on his poetry, painting, sculpture and novels. But from The Blood of a Poet (1930) to the great Beauty and the Beast (1946) and his final
Testament of Orpheus (1959), he brought poetry, ideas and fantasy into his film work. In Testament of Orpheus, he chronicled his own search for the meaning of art and life, disguising himself as an 18th-century poet.
Wanting company on this project, he invited old friends and luminaries to be part of the production, which was shot in Les Baux-de-Provence. A glittery bunch, they included actors from his previous films, like Jean Marais, Maria Casares, Edouard Dermit and Henri Cremieux, as well as Pablo Picasso, Jean-Pierre Leaud, François Truffaut, Yul Brynner, Roger Vadim, Brigitte Bardot and Françoise Sagan. As one can imagine, what went on behind the scenes was often as interesting as what made it to the screen. Fortunately, now-famed
photographer Lucien Clergue, who was then only 25, was there to capture much of it.
The first New York exhibit of his exquisite gelatin silver prints (Lucien Clergue: Jean Cocteau, The Testament of Orpheus 1959, curated by James Cavello at Westwood Gallery) includes marvelous portraits, such as the poetic “Jean Cocteau at Milly-la-Forêt” (1959), with the great man elegantly dressed in an overcoat and scarf, standing in front of one of his drawings, his eyes closed as if dreaming of something beautiful. There’s another of Cocteau and Brynner, both debonair men in moody silhouette, the actor dashing in a tuxedo, a cigarette at his lips. A group shot dominated by the ebullient Picasso shows him surrounded by his soon-to-be wife Jacqueline Rocque, bullfighter Luis Dominguez, Cocteau, Serge Lifar and Lucia Bose. They are a happy, animated band of players, all great characters of the time.
The exhibition runs from November 18 – December 31, 2011
