Meditate with Marc Riboud (1923-2016)

WITH HIS HAT and overalls, the painter photographed by Marc Riboud on the beams of the Eiffel Tower looks exactly like the actor Buster Keaton (1895-1966), this American comedian who keeps his legendary phlegm in the worst of times. situations. The time is for daring: always higher, always faster, always further. We have become tightrope walkers on steel towers. Strange fate. With surprising ease in these dizzying heights, the man clings to a beam with his left arm, to hold with the other the brush which he uses to cover the building with its protective layer. We can imagine the perilous moment when he will have to lean towards the bucket of paint hanging under his feet! The construction of the image, disconcerting, offers a beautiful geometry which is also one of the French photographer’s trademarks: a large “X” of metal beams echoes the small “x”, more flexible and more fragile, which draws the body of the worker. But, standing on one foot, the other almost dancing in the void, the man seems elsewhere. Never mind the Palais de Chaillot and the superb buildings of the beautiful Parisian neighborhoods, far below, almost in another world. In these unexpected heights, like the stonecutters of cathedrals, the artist does what he has to do. Far from view but full of grace.