Cannes Watersports, 1958

The Carlton's pier

According to the archive caption, these holidaymakers are waterskiing from the pier of the Carlton Hotel. The board on the jetty spells out the name, in case you were wondering. The Carlton opened on the Croisette in 1911 and has been one of the best-known buildings in Cannes ever since: a white Belle Époque facade with its own beach in front.

Bathers stand on the planks and watch. Further out, a motorboat pulls two skiers out to sea. It is no race and no show, just a summer afternoon on the Riviera when someone has sent for the boat.

The flags do the work

The mast on the pier flies the flags of several countries. They tell you who comes here without a single face in the frame. That is typical Aarons: he lets the place tell the story and keeps the people small.

Look at the lines, too. The jetty, the row of flags and the two skiers' trails all run the same way. The whole picture makes one movement, from bottom to top, from the wood out onto the sea.

The start of a coastline

The same year, Aarons also photographed the skiers from the boat, with the Carlton behind them. Eighteen years later he was a little further along the same coast, at Eden-Roc Pool in Antibes. Hang two or three Riviera images side by side and you see the same sea in a different time.

On the wall

Cannes Watersports is square, which makes it easy to place. It works well on its own above a sideboard or beside a window, and just as well in a pair or a small series. The deep blue and the warm wood of the pier sit well with white, natural linen and oak.