"I have lived through an exciting, unique period on the Riviera. As Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players …”. The Côte d’Azur during the “Golden Fifties” was one of the largest and most beautiful stages in the world. Its actors were often magnificent and glamorous. And though the curtain has gone down, the memories remain." (Edward Quinn)
Irish-born Edward Quinn lived and worked as a photographer on the Côte d'Azur from the 1950s onwards. During the golden fifties this was the playground of celebrities from the worlds of showbiz, art and business. The rich and the famous came to the Riviera to relax. However, the film stars knew how important their off-screen image was, and Quinn was in the right place at the right time to capture spontaneous and enchanting images that encapsulated the charm, sophistication and chic of this legendary era.
“I was born in Dublin and like many young Irishmen knew that one day I would leave the country. I started out making my living as a musician, and during World War II played with a small band in Belfast in Northern Ireland … When the war was over, I continued in aviation, flying charter planes in Europe and Africa and later taking part in the Berlin airlift during the 1948 Soviet blockade. At this point, my future career seemed set. But everything changed when I visited a friend in Monte Carlo. I was enchanted by the Côte d’Azur and by the beauty of the countryside, and very impressed by the quiet, old-fashioned elegance of Monte Carlo. My friend lent me a camera and I rambled around taking snapshots as souvenirs, already, subconsciously, as a reporter. Local newspapers carried stories about the important personalities and famous stars who liked to come to this part of the world – just after the war, it hadn’t yet been touched by popular tourism – either they lived here or came for holidays. I began to think it might be worthwhile becoming a photographer, and that I might be able to make a living photographing these VIPs relaxing, away from their professional lives. I learned all I could about photography from books and photo-magazines, mostly American ones. I invested in a Retina camera, and later a Rolleiflex, as well as an old enlarger. I also bought a car, a 1930 Mathys cabriolet … gradually I developed a network of friendly barmen, secretaries, porters and hotel receptionists at the most luxurious hotels along the coast … photographing stars has an advantage: they usually know how to pose in front of a camera. But to get a picture showing them as they really are, behind the scenes, off the set, is much more difficult – because they are, after all, actors, and the glamour is nearly always there … nevertheless I had the chance to make exclusive pictures of some stars who were, or who would become, world-famous … I first met Grace Kelly when she came to the Côte d’Azur to work with Hitchcock on To Catch a Thief. She came back to the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, when the French magazine Paris Match had the idea that a meeting between the bachelor Prince Rainier of Monaco and the Hollywood film star would make a good picture story. As I already knew Grace and had done exclusive pictures of Prince Rainier, I was chosen to accompany Grace … there were certain points along the coast where one could with a fair degree of certainty expect to meet a star. There were the big hotels favoured by the celebrities – the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the Hôtel Negresco in Nice, the Hôtel du Cap d’Antibes and the Carlton Hotel in Cannes. The fabulous gala evenings at the Sporting d’Eté in Monte Carlo during the summer and the International Sporting Club in the winter had a magnetic effect on the rich and famous and most of the Riviera celebrities attended.” (in: Edward Quinn, Stars, Stars, Stars Off the Screen, Zurich (Scalo Publishers), 1997)
In 1951, Quinn met and photographed Pablo Picasso for the first time. This encounter was to have a profound influence on Quinn himself and his subsequent work. The two men became close friends and remained so until Picasso's death in 1973. Quinn is the author of several books and films published about the Spanish artist. From the 1960s onwards, Quinn focused his work on artists such as Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Hans Hartung, David Hockney, and Graham Sutherland. In the late 1980s Quinn developed an intense relationship, similar to his friendship with Picasso, with German artist Georg Baselitz.