2013 Denis Bouvier | denisbouvier.com
Foncie Pulice was Vancouver’s most prolific street photographer for roughly 45 years – from the mid 1930s till his retirement in 1979. He took 4,000–5,000 photos a day, which amounted to over 15 million photos in his lifetime. He claimed he destroyed all his negatives, but 10,700 were discovered.
In partnership with Knowledge Network, the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) is exhibiting an intriguing selection of Foncie’s photos, digital projections which run continuously, and various paraphernalia connected with his work, artfully curated by Joan Seidl. Bouvier’s photo at the MOV press conference shows one of the projection screens as well as a “Forgotten Photographs” section where the public can still obtain unclaimed photos. The exhibition will run until January 2014.
Foncie began photographing at a time when most people didn’t have and probably couldn’t afford a camera, especially around the years of the Second World War. Consequently, his photos might represent the only memory of a loved one at that time. This is in sharp contrast to today’s digital world where every person is their own photographer.
Foncie’s technique involved taking photos of people walking down the street in a forward motion from an upward angle, giving them a larger than life look and a certain dynamism. Foncie would then give any interested person a claim ticket and they could view the proof the next day and purchase the amount they wanted. In the early days, they cost 3 for 50 cents, 4 for 75 cents and 5 for $1.
Foncie photographed mainly at various locations on Granville Street south of Hastings. Near the end of his career, he was photographing close to the building which houses the Source newspaper. To sell his pictures, he rented counter space in various ground floor businesses and actually had one in the Source building.
His camera, on display at the MOV, has been likened to a rudimentary version of R2D2, the robot from Star Wars. It was housed in a large, boxy structure made from surplus scrap metal and mounted on wheels. It used large reels of movie film in order to shoot continuously all day long.
His photos chronicle the styles and mores of almost five decades. We have military uniforms from the 1940s, bobby soxers, long and short skirts, hippies. Especially in the earlier decades, going downtown for shopping or entertainment was something special and people really “dressed up.”
This is a unique historical experience not to be missed. You should visit not only the MOV, but Knowledge’s Network’s website: http://www.knowledge.ca/fonciescorner. Here you can read stories connected with the pictures and view the photos which are grouped by decade and accompanied by music and a radio broadcast appropriate to the time.
Knowledge Network will premier the documentary, Foncie’s Photos on August 5 at 8 p.m.
