brian cassidy bookselle

3.
[Performance]: [Theater]: [BECKETT, Samuel]
NUSIMOVICI, Rosine (Photographer)
[18 Vintage B&W Photos from Set of COMÉDIE]
[ca. 1966]
Eighteen original vintage B&W prints, 9.5” x 7” all. Photographer's
stamp to verso of fifteen, another signed by photographer. Minor wear
to edges, some unobtrusive curling. Various annotations to versos of
most images. Very good or better.
Series of eighteen original photographs from the set of the 1966 film
adaptation of Beckett's one-act COMÉDIE, directed by Mariu Karmitz.
First staged in Paris in 1964 with Delphine Seyrig, Eleanore Hirt,
and Michael Lonsdale in the leads (roles they recreated for this film
version), COMÉDIE marked the first sustained involvement of Beckett
himself in the rehearsals of one of his works (see GROVE COMPANION TO
SAMUEL BECKETT pp. 104-5), a role he assumed again two years later
— as these photos evidence. These rehearsals “laid the foundations
for his later choreography of sound and silence, light and dark, motion
and stillness” (ibid). Nusimovici (1932-2013) was a respected
photographer of the French theater, as well as of architectural, musical,
and literary subjects. And these images — three prominently
featuring Beckett, the others of the various principals — are rendered
in a stark and atmospheric Expressionist style. Together, an
intimate view of this important Beckett film production.
-4000-
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