Agnès Varda's First New York Exhibition at Blum & Poe Reveals Narrative Impulse Across Decades

From March 2 to April 15, 2017, Blum & Poe presented Agnès Varda's inaugural New York exhibition at 19 East 66th Street. Though not a full retrospective, the show spanned her entire career, beginning with 18 vintage black-and-white photographs from 1954 that first appeared in her Paris courtyard. These early works reveal influences from Edward Weston, Josef Sudek, and Henri Cartier-Bresson while foreshadowing artists like Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Varda's interactive 2004-2005 video installation Le Triptyque de Nourmoutier, inspired by Baroque Flemish painting, allows viewers to manipulate hinged panels and reshape the narrative. In Les gens de la terrasse (2012), she recreated her 1956 photograph La terrasse du Corbusier, Marseille with actors imagining backstories for the original subjects. Three self-portraits from ages 20, 40, and 80 anchor the exhibition, demonstrating her evolving artistic identity. The French New Wave pioneer, known for films like Chloe from 5 to 7 and The Gleaners and I, has focused on visual art for approximately fifteen years. Her work consistently invites viewers to construct narratives from carefully framed moments.