Villa Santo Sospir in new exhibition in Monaco
The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is hosting the "Santo Sospir Mauro Restiffe / Jean Cocteau" exhibition until 15 October 2023. © Communication Department / Manue Vitali
The exhibition at Villa Sauber features photographs by Mauro Restiffe, along with works by Jean Cocteau.
Jean Cocteau first visited Santo Sospir in 1950. He was invited there by Francine Weisweiller, who he had met on the set of the film “Les Enfants Terribles”. He was invited to rest in her villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, just a stone’s throw from Villefranche-sur-Mer, where he had lived for many years in his youth. A few days there turned into 12 years…
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While there the painter, designer, novelist and author painted the walls, designed the furniture and left his pictorial stamp on the whole of this large two-storey house. In 2018, while the villa was being fully restored, Brazilian photographer Mauro Restiffe was invited to stay at Santo Sospir, which had been preserved intact since Cocteau’s departure.
He took a series of photographs inside the villa, documenting the drawings left by Jean Cocteau as well as the architecture of the house. Mauro Restiffe works exclusively with analogue techniques. “He is someone who has never wanted to go over to digital photography,” says Célia Bernasconi, Head Curator of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, who organised the exhibition.
Walking round the different rooms in the Villa Sauber, we encounter large prints that rub shoulders with works by Jean Cocteau. Mauro Restiffe’s photographs have a distinctive texture and a high amount of grain due to the size of the prints, particularly those in black and white. There is a form of dialogue between Restiffe’s images and a selection of Cocteau’s drawings, paintings, tapestries and films, divided into chapters that revisit some of the fundamental themes in his work, such as dreams, eroticism and metamorphosis.
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Mauro Restiffe spent just one week in Santo Sospir, in 2018. “First impressions are always very important to me. On my first day, when I got there, I had already started photographing, exploring the house and visualising what I could do. After that first day, I carried on taking pictures and I realised that it would be more interesting to take my shots at the end of the day. I’d come back in the evening after walking around during the day or going to the beach,” says the Brazilian artist.
“Santo Sospir Mauro Restiffe / Jean Cocteau” can be seen at Villa Sauber until 15 October 2023.