The exhibition LUCIEN HERVÉ: Flashes of Man in the Modern City, dedicated to the work of the Franco-Hungarian Lucien Hervé, considered one of the most important architectural photographers of the 20th century, was on display at the Centro Cultural de Cascais between May 3 and June 30, 2024.

Curated by Portuguese architects Isabel Alvarenga and Victor Neves, the exhibition, specially designed for the Centro Cultural de Cascais, is based on a thematic perspective that investigates the representation of the human figure and the city in Lucien Hervé’s photographs, at the intersection of photography, architecture and sociology. Lucien Hervé, a keen observer of concrete, also sought the presence of the living in every place he photographed.

As the works on display showed, Lucien Hervé masterfully recorded the novelty of the modernist city and the impact of what he saw being built, in Brazil and India, for example. But at the same time, he also turned his camera to the city that preceded the modern one, with its narrow, dark and unhealthy streets. The urban scale and its relationship with the scale of the human figure, and the sociological dimension of this relationship, are recurring motifs in many of his photographs.

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Presentation in Portugal: D. Luis I Foundation
Centro Cultural de Cascais, Cascais
May 3 to June 30, 2024

Photographs from the gallery kindly provided by Fundação D. Luís I / Julia Lombão