José NICOLAS (1956) - Lot 158

José NICOLAS (1956) Biarritz beach, 2003 Digital print Signed, titled, dated in the margin Dimensions including margins: 30 x 42 cm Note: With this photograph, taken in Biarritz in 2003, José Nicolas adopts a bird's-eye view that transforms the beach into a veritable living scene. The bathers, scattered between rocks and natural basins, make up a human mosaic where games, swimming and moments of relaxation alternate. The warm light highlights the textures of the foreshore - seaweed, rock, translucent water - and creates long shadows that sculpt the space. This all-encompassing, almost cartographic vision enables the photographer to capture the harmonious coexistence between man and this singular coastal landscape. A sensitive, observational work, this image bears witness to Nicolas' attentive eye, capable of revealing the poetry of everyday life in a simple afternoon on the Atlantic coast.