News: December 2014 - The Vincent Perez Archives

NEWS: DECEMBER 2014

20 December 2014

On Thursday Vincent attended the inauguration of the Leica Concept Store in Paris on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Of course, the presence of Vincent in this world of photography is not a surprise after all his exhibitions over the past three years. Italian cinema icon, Claudia Cardinale, has been the muse of many photographers so she was another guest. The opening coincided with the 100th anniversary of the famous German camera.

While Vincent was keeping busy through the holiday season, so was wife Karine. The first photo shows her at Benjamin Didier's Photo Exhibition Preview on December 11th. She's posing with Benjamin's mother, Yaguel Didier, at 12 Drouot Galerie in Paris. The rest of the photos are from the taping of Michael Drucker's TV show on December 10th. The honored guest was Carla Bruni with Didier Barbelivien, Christophe Willem, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Bob Geldof, Jacques Leibowitch and Karine.

The media splashed the news - who was the girl at the Dolby Theatre accompanying Luc Besson to the LA premiere of "Unbroken" on December 15th? Well, it was Vincent Perez's niece - Thalia Besson. Yes, father and daughter in front of the paparazzi, but they don't look happy.

The press wrote, "Only thirteen... red lips... in a well-cut little black dress." Heck, I was still playing with dolls at that age and didn't own a black dress until I was 18 and I still refuse to show cleavage! The press claims the girl is typically into social media posting oodles of photos of herself and friends in places like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. We already know that. Anyway, the child that caught my eye that evening was an eight-year-old girl (wannabe boy) named Shiloh. She could take your breath away, but then her parents happen to be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Poor director Mom had the chicken pox so had to miss the gala event.

12 December 2014

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF) is Ireland's premier feature film festival and is held every March. Festival director Grainne Humphreys has just announced that JDIFF will host the Irish premiere of THE PRICE OF DESIRE. Director Mary McGuckian responded, "It's an absolute honor that JDIFF has chosen to program The Price of Desire at the festival. Orla Brady, who plays Eileen Gray, and Vincent Perez, who plays Le Corbusier, share my delight at the news. We all agree that it is entirely fitting for Eileen Gray's film to premiere in Ireland." Although Gray's ideas reflected many of the trends, debates and dilemmas of the early 20th century in design and architecture, her legacy of buildings and furniture is small in comparison to that of her contemporaries. The period drama focuses on the controversial belief that the avant-garde designer's contribution to modern architecture was effectively effaced by Le Corbusier, the genius who many credit as the most important architect of the last century.

The film highlights Gray's tumultuous professional and personal life. She is shown to be a great admirer of Le Corbusier's architecture and, quite clearly, her creation of her villa called E1027 is based on his famous Five Points of Architecture manifesto. The charismatic, Romanian-born architect Jean Badovici is also a key character (played by Francesco Scianna) and counts among Gray's romantic interests. According to historians, Gray didn't much care for monogamy and was known to be bisexual so keeping up with her partners was no easy task. Canadian singer Alanis Morissette will portray one of her lesbian lovers, a French night-club singer named Maria Damia. Considering the high-minded subject matter, one can assume the film will capture the attention of a limited audience.

I'm going to call this series of photos - "A day in the life of an artist".

You can see from the two photos of the "real" Le Corbusier below that the filmmakers were trying to duplicate actual photos. The man obviously had an aversion to clothing! Alastair Gordon, Contributing Editor for Architecture and Design for the Wall Street Journal, writes, "Between 1934 to 1956, Badovici had the house to himself and frequently invited Le Corbusier and his wife to visit. This is when the imposition, the so-called 'rape' of the house began. There’s a group of grainy photographs, recently uncovered, that shows Le Corbusier lounging around the house in his underwear, or naked, or in pajamas. The snapshots must have been taken some time before World War II and there’s something vaguely pornographic and onanistic about the way he’s lying on the divan in the living room... drawing something on a table while his foot is propped on a stool, or posing in front of one of the murals."

08 December 2014

It's that time of the year again for the Gucci Paris Masters. Here are a couple photos taken yesterday. To celebrate the annual Gucci Masters Show-Jumping competition, the Italian fashion house hosted a luncheon for some of its riders and a host of French celebs, which, besides Vincent, included Princess Caroline of Monaco, Charles Berling, Jessica Springsteen (daughter of Bruce Springsteen) and Anthony Delon. In an interview, Vincent told the press he'll be opening a photo exhibit at the Galerie Cinéma in Paris on January 8th. He added, "It’s all portraits, including self-portraits." For an interview regarding his current photo exhibition in Monaco, visit this link.

05 December 2014

Yesterday Vincent attended the opening of Julian Lennon's exhibition, featuring fourteen rare portraits of Princess Charlene of Monaco, who posed for Lennon minutes before her civil wedding on July 1, 2011. The exhibition is being held at the ArtCube Gallery in Paris until January 15, 2015. Also on display alongside pictures of Charlene are landscapes that Lennon loves to immortalize. The two men became friends through their enthusiasm for photography on the set of "The Price of Desire". In October Stoney Road Press announced the release of a limited edition set of prints by Lennon featuring the cast of the film.