AVERY LOZADA | DATE 10/1/2013

Jacques Henri Lartigue: A Sporting Life

Jacques Henri Lartigue is best known for his photographs of automobile races and upper-class leisure in early twentieth-century France, and for the 120 photo albums in which he arranged his images. The oversize square format of A Sporting Life is inspired by these captivating albums, as are the embossed photographs inside, which are accompanied by Lartigue's handwritten captions and tipped-in excerpts from his charming diaries. The earliest photos date back to the early 1900s—depicting the first cars, the first planes—and while some famous sporting events are included, mostly Lartigue portrays his friends and family at leisure, swimming in the lake at their country houses, performing cartwheels in the sand at the beach, or ice skating (often in wonderful clothing!). Featured image is captioned, "Suzy Vernon, Royan, September 1926."