Alfredo Quaglino (1894-1972) was an Italian society photographer and journalist as well as a motor car racer. He lived for most of his life in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a town located along France’s Côte d’Azur near Nice, where he made his name as a Riviera society photographer and journalist.
Quaglino’s photographic archive offers a rich pictorial history of society and artistic life along the French Rivera in the mid twentieth century, and it speaks to the privileged position that Quaglino held in such circles.
Notably, Quaglino moved within the artistic groups of the French Riviera of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, and he was familiar with some of the great artists of the time, including Aimé Maeght (founder of Foundation Maeght), Jean Cocteau, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Emilienne Delacoix and Pablo Picasso. Some of the most remarkable photographs in the archive show images of Picasso at home with his family – both his children as well as his grandchildren. There are also numerous photographs of Jean Cocteau at the Villa Sospino, alongside owner Francine Weisweiller as well as his famous murals. Once again showcasing Quaglino’s closeness with these artists are photos of Édouard “Doudou” Dermit, Cocteau’s adopted son, on his wedding day to Éliane Dubroca (indeed, in Quaglino’s handwritten description on the verso of the photo, he identifies Édouard by his nickname). Other pictures show Marc Chagall with Virginia Haggard, Chagall’s mistress, and their son David.
In addition to the many photographs of artists of the time, the archive contains numerous pictures of the rich and famous who lived in or visited the Riviera at the time: Norma Shearer; Brigitte Bardot; Rita Hayworth; Aly Khan and his father, Aga Khan; Orson Welles; Somerset Maugham; Laurel and Hardy; Colette; Winston Churchill; and Dennis O’Keefe, among others. These photographs, too, speak to Quaglino’s familiarity with these figures. In one photo, Somerset Maugham is seen writing at his desk in his library; another shot shows his library shelves. Laurel and Hardy are pictured drinking wine and eating spaghetti, with the wine label stapled to the back of the image. Orson Welles is pictured laughing at a restaurant. Winston Churchill is seen sitting and painting a picture. An image shows Ali Khan and Rita Hayworth on their wedding day on the steps of the town hall. Quaglino himself appears in many of the photographs, standing alongside the various illustrious personnages of the time.
Many of the photographs were most likely featured in publications of the period, and many have copyright stamps verso. However, there are also numerous photographs that were most likely not published. Most of the pictures have Quaglino’s handwritten notes verso, naming the people pictured as well as describing the setting.
Apart from the photographs themselves, the archive also contains a wealth of other ephemeral material. Two notebooks are in fact Quaglino’s personal address books, containing, among other things: contact information, addresses and notes on Marc Chagall, Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Prévert, Jacques Brel, Matisse, Aimé and Marguerite Maeght (among others); newspaper clippings; handwritten notes; and business cards for various places along the French Riviera. There are some (photographic) postcards of towns along the Côte d’Azur, including of Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, Monaco, Nice, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Saint Tropez. Among the Jean Cocteau ephemera are a La Chapelle Saint Pierre Villefranche sur Mer exhibition booklet as well as an invitation to a signing of Hommages. Quaglino’s personal correspondence, some including the original envelopes, comprise a part of the archive, as well as newspaper clippings, some of which are of articles that Quaglino himself wrote. There are numerous exhibition invitations featuring works by Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Bazaine, Kemeny, Tàpies, and Cader (among others), as well as some Foundation Maeght invitation cards to exhibitions on works by Riopelle, Dubuffet and Kandinsky.
Comprising hundreds of items, Quaglino’s archive offers an extensive archive on French Riviera society life in the middle of the twentieth century.
