the essential Jean Mathieu is known for having been one of the founders of AS Passage Rugby. His Boétienne daughters tell another story, that of his discreet celebrity, discovered much later.
“Our father was a great athlete. He practiced a large number of sports and even held a few records in swimming. It took at least that, plus a good dose of courage for him to be able to complete his military service in the elite platoon of the Paris firefighters. He joined this prestigious corps in 1950. We could not have been unaware of this episode in his life, his photo in firefighter uniform has always been on display for our eyes in the family home. This photo has enough mystery that none of us would have thought of taking down this frame. Our story could have ended there if on September 9, 2010, some ailment, probably harmless, had not led me to my doctor’s waiting room,” begins the story of Martine, one of his three daughters, telling us the story of the mysterious photo of her father Jean Mathieu.
The weight of words, the shock of the photo
But who is this Irving Penn?
In 2010, the Internet had already conquered French homes and in a few minutes, Irving Penn was unmasked:
“American, one of the greatest fashion photographers in the world. In 1951, on the sidelines of his mission entrusted by Vogue to take pictures of celebrities, he began personal work and began his series on small trades, “The small trades” with the idea that they might disappear one day.
Later we learn that Irving had touts who recruited his models on the streets of Paris, “and it was there that our father had been approached while he was acting as a messenger for a Parisian theatre.”
Lausanne and Los Angeles
The Parisian exhibition was over, but it was traveling around the world, the next date was in Lausanne from December 3 to 5, 2010. On the plane taking them to the capital of the canton of Vaud, their father’s photo was already present in the magazines distributed on the plane announcing the exhibition. Later in the streets of Lausanne, posters reproducing the photo in large format were everywhere in the city: “we were speechless! It was his portrait that was chosen to communicate about the event. Dad is everywhere on the walls of the city.”
The portrait in the streets of Lausanne. Photo – LW
