“Portraits of Colette” Exhibition

Julie Saul Gallery

[Image: Irving Penn, 1951, Paris]

This event has ended.

The Julie Saul Gallery presents vintage portraits of the French author Colette in our Project Gallery by the great photojournalists of her era including Irving Penn,
Edward Steichen, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Cecil Beaton, Lee Miller and others.

The images range from the young Colette gazing coquettishly into the camera, to an elderly grande dame engaging the viewer with a sage glower. In one image, she sits in the garden at the Palais Royale with Jean Cocteau, where they both lived for many years, united by their long friendship and lifelong adoration of publicity.

The collection was assembled by the late
Mary Lee Fletcher, an independent woman who lived her life in the fashion world as Executive Vice President of Christian Dior-New York. Her Work

Irving Penn, 1951, Paris frequently brought her to France, and Parisian bohemia in the years between the wars were of particular interest to her. She was undoubtedly drawn to Colette by her free spirit and literary accomplishments.