The Toni Harting Provence Photographs Collection

In the hearts of millions of people, young and old from all over the world, the name Provence holds a special place, full of affection and fascination.

My own long and passionate love affair with Provence was born in Cannes in the summer of 1951. Another Dutchman and I formed a duo of travelling musicians, playing our guitars and singing all kinds of songs in a great variety of places for people of different nationalities and social backgrounds. We were musiciens ambulants, wandering minstrels, true bohemians living a life of intense exploration and great diversity that often led to extraordinary situations. We continued to perform with great success for several summers until well into the 1960s.

During the years of our Provence adventures, and purely for my own pleasure, I made thousands of black-and-white photographs of numerous colourful characters from many walks of life. I observed these people while they lived their lives on the streets and the beaches, in the bars and at the bullfights and the pétanque fields, when embracing each other or sleeping in the heat of the day, just being themselves.

Working in the photographic perspective called humanistic reportage, I put together a wide-ranging collection of candid, revealing portraits that are an original, joyous, thought-provoking, but above all honest historical documentary record of the lively spirit of those times. With these pictures I celebrate the enchanting heart of the land of glorious light and present a loving look at the people of captivating Provence, the playground of Southern France.

I am delighted to have exhibited several special selections of these photographs at six prestigious art galleries in 2007, 2008, and 2009 (follow the links in the column on the right). Included in these shows was the ever-popular Poopie Dog (see above) as well as my celebrated picture of Pablo Picasso and his family at the bullfight in Arles in September 1961 (see below). A short account of my meeting with this world-famous artist is also presented below.

A seventh show of my Provence photos will be mounted in December 2009 at The Department Gallery Mainspace in Toronto.

For more information on the Provence collection, please click here (Jet Fuel show) and here (Alliance Française Toronto show).