Pierre-Louis Pierson & La Contessa di Castiglione

French Photographer with his Muse.

A favorite subject of Mr. Pierson was LA CONTESSA DI CASTIGLIONE where their work was that of the muse to the creator but where ,for once, the muse takes charge:

She lived by the cult of Self and of image, the click of a camera is an voracious temptation. The possibility to play many roles and identities, to live the life you’d like, impersonating for a moment the roles of great heroines or characters. In the meantime those photographic sessions and performances become eternal, frozen into images, to be seen an infinite number of times, sent to lovers, distributed generally, to leave an indelible memory of fantasies made credible. This is the reason why the Countess frequented Pierson’s studio so often. Between the Countess and Pierson, it was she who was the real artist, the creator and also the director of the performances. She made notes on the borders of the film negatives advising how to cut the images and how to give prominence or colour to certain details. She sketched and made the paper-pulp and lace frames for the photographs, she wrote the scenarios in which all the dresses, sittings and furniture were arranged.
Castiglione looks today like a complete artist, a director able to elaborate in its full complexity the whole aesthetic realm that follows from these reckless photographic adventures. Pierson embodies the excellent, irreplaceable, and perfect support that technical ability has to provide. The real conceptual dimension of the images, the art, comes entirely from the Countess. She used to say: “All or nothing” and she faced photography with the same attitude. During the years from 1856 to 1958, from 1861 to 1867 and from 1893 to 1895 she posed infront of the camera about 500 times at Pierre Louis Pierson’s studio. Even during her final years whilst dogged by nervous illness, shy and full of fears (she used to leave by night and covered with black drapes the walls and mirrors in Place Vendome and Rue Cambon), she never failed to meet her appointment with the cold automation of the photographer’s lens. She realized that those moments before the click are the only thing allowing her escape and narcisistic flight that her life was no longer granting.

Ohlalala!!! I'm in Love with the two of them...! Where can I see/ find more of their work I wonder.

All or Nothing.... that is My Motto.

xx
alice