Airplanes, idols, and photos
Exhibition “Stars between the Sky and the Earth” opens at the Museum of Modern Art
The exhibition includes black-and-white photographs of 1955-1971, which feature the idols of that time: Brigitte Bardot, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Yves Saint Laurent, Sean Connery, Charles Aznavour, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, and other celebrities who flew with Air France. The organizers of the exhibition told The Day that Tele Photos Agency photographs were privileged to take photos of stars on the runway or inside an airplane, or even go up the control tower and watch the airplanes on taxiways! Or they could ask the controllers to stop the aircraft at the end of the runway in order to get on board and photograph the legendary opera diva Maria Callas before she would be met at the ramp by a crowd of photographers from other media. The only condition that photographers had to keep to was the presence of the Air France airplanes in each photo.
What was France like in the 1950s? It was the era of large turboprop airliners, real “air ships.” In 1956, a new airport at Orly was opened. Air France advertisers decided to use the worldwide recognition of their famous passengers in order to attract the attention of wider public circles to flying. That is when the “stars gallery” project originated, which later became a kind of historical evidence of the turboprop airliners era, until the appearance of jet planes.
Shootings started in 1955, Tele Photos Agency provided a portrait photographer who would take pictures of celebrities, artists, people of science, art, and politics who used Orly Airport. During the first decade, Roland Briens, who started as the famous Sam Levin’s assistant, fulfilled this role by meeting the stars near the boarding ramp with his Rolleiflex with dual flash. Thanks to his ability to get along with people, celebrities agreed to pose willingly. Other photographers successfully worked there as well until 1971: Hassia, Philippe Formaison, Claude Agostini, Philippe Briat, and Jean Gueneux.
This exhibition of photographs, which can be viewed in Kyiv (as a part of the festival “French Spring in Ukraine”), was created by the Air France Cultural Heritage Division and represents a part of the airline’s history. The exhibition provides an opportunity for a view to travel through the pages of the chronicle of the early years of civil aviation, rich in adventures and full of unusual situations. The photos feature not only celebrities, but common passengers, who chose flying as a fast and convenient kind of transport. And also, there are people, whose fates are intertwined with the development of aviation. The exhibition is supported by the Embassy of France to Ukraine and the French Institute in Ukraine. It will be open until April 30.
