A hundred schoolchildren from the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis are invited to the Musée Masséna on Thursday, March 22, 2012, at 3:00 PM for a guided tour of the “Presidents, Presidents” exhibition, led by Jean-Louis Debré, President of the Constitutional Council, and Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice and President of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis.
This exhibition, which Nice is the first city in France to host, offers 23 official and revisited portraits of the Presidents of the French Republic. Beyond its aesthetic interest, it serves as a playful and concrete tool for learning about the history of the French Republic and aims to convey the symbols of republican and national unity to younger generations. Students from schools in Isola 2000 and Nice (Jeanne de France, Nice Flore 2) will receive a civics lesson from the President of the Constitutional Council and the Mayor of Nice.
Following the school visit to the exhibition, Jean-Louis Debré will present his book “Face to Face with the Presidents of the Republic” at 4:00 PM at Villa Masséna, in the presence of Christian Estrosi.
The exhibition gathers the 23 official portraits of the Presidents of the French Republic. These portraits, presented in large format, have been revisited using digital imaging techniques and most have been placed in a new environment in harmony with their era or term of office.
It is noteworthy that this exhibition, which Nice is the first city in France to host, was presented to the President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the Élysée Palace on February 27, 2012.
The Tradition of the Official Portrait:
For nearly 160 years now, the official photograph of the President of the Republic has been displayed in all national palaces, ministries, prefectures, embassies, and city halls.
This tradition dates back to the Second Republic (the first having no president) and to the portrait of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, which was actually a drawing rather than a photograph. It wasn’t until the Third Republic and President Adolphe Thiers in 1871 that the portrait became a photograph. For anecdotal purposes, it was also Adolphe Thiers who first posed with his hand resting on a book.
Tails, white tie, grand cordon of the Legion of Honor, the presence of books—these portraits speak volumes about their time, but also about the ideas of those portrayed.
The Fifth Republic holds the record for innovation, with color, business attire, horizontal format, outdoor photos, and the involvement of great artists such as Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Gisèle Freund, Bettina Rheims, or Philippe Warrin.
The Presidents of the Republic and Nice:
Nice and the Côte d’Azur have always been official destinations for the Presidents of the Republic, kings, and princes. Thus, among all the presidents the French Republic has known (and if we consider Raymond Poincaré as having surely made a brief stop), only two have never visited Nice: Patrice de Mac Mahon and Georges Pompidou (only private stays on the Côte d’Azur before his election).
