Marc Allégret (1900-1973)
The name of Marc and Yves Allégret is known above all to cinema enthusiasts. Marc, the elder brother, is the author of masterpieces such as Fanny, the second part of Marcel Pagnol's Marseilles trilogy.
It was however with the filmed and photographed documentary that Marc Allégret started his career.
Leaving on 18 July 1925 from Bordeaux, Marc Allégret accompanied André Gide on a long journey of over ten months through French equatorial Africa and the Belgian Congo. Their itinerary led them from Cameroon to what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, through Chad and the Central African Republic (formerly Oubangui-Chari). They met colonial officials but also the local populations. Marc Allégret was particularly interested in the men and women he met, whom he photographed and filmed going about their daily lives, their settlements and some of their customs, which fascinated him, including dances.
The force and accuracy of these images are still surprising more than 80 years after they were taken.
