No. 10, Exposition

By Nathalie Léger
Translated by Amanda DeMarco

Published: 5 December 2019

The Countess of Castiglione was considered the most beautiful woman in the world in the late-19th century, and she became the most photographed woman of her time. A fascination with her life and death led the writer and curator Nathalie Léger to weave together this inspired and imaginative biography of a woman who was over-exposed but never really understood in her own era. Léger's agile, piecemeal meditations ultimately yield a canny but compassionate portrait of a figure who could be considered a predecessor to Cindy Sherman. Reflecting on the artistry of self-representation and the half-truths of portrait photography, Léger explores the myths around icons of past and present, and goes on to re-frame her own family history.