Serge Gainsbourg, who died 25 years ago this month, is the subject of a revealing photographic exhibition in Paris that shows him at the height of his 1960s fame and in his notorious relationship with Jane Birkin.The memorable photographs taken by Tony Frank are being displayed at La Galerie de L’Instant. The tousled Frenchman is frequently depicted with unshaven features, cigarette or messy hair. He saw himself as ugly. Yet his looks appealed to some, as did his wit and charm. He attracted some of the most beautiful women in the world. British actress and singer Birkin, as groomed as he was untidy, famously inspired the Hermès Birkin bag.The photographs also show the sensitive side of a man who wrote more than 550 often impressive songs, not all of them provocative and many simply poetic. The gallery includes many little-seen pictures of Gainsbourg, posing for Frank’s camera alone or carousing with women.The images were taken as Gainsbourg reveled in his notoriety - which even led to him being compared with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. He also embraced infamy with the explicit duet with Birkin, “Je T’aime.. Moi Non Plus,” originally written for his previous girlfriend Brigitte Bardot. “Serge Gainsbourg” is at Galerie de l’Instant, 46, rue de Poitou Paris 75003 from March 11 through May 31, 2016.
↧