Gallerie Verdeau

Regis Besse: "picture peddler"

The rock-star image is built on behind-the-scenes photos: Mick Jagger in his bath; The Beatles on a ski slope; James Dean with cigarette in mouth... Régis Besse is the founder of Galerie Verdeau in the Saint-Ouen flea market. He also has an uncanny knack for unearthing that one offbeat photo you can't find anywhere else; the one that says far more than the raft of glossy pictures that pepper the pages of conventional publications. Régis has now teamed up with Le Pigalle on a project designed to capture the energy of the neighbourhood in its heyday. "You get that holiday feel and the classic cars in Peltier's old photos of Montmartre. Then there is that underground aspect you find in press archives and the unique snapshots of a backstage journalist catching the likes of Patti Smith, Iggy Pop and Blondie in a hazy, alcohol-fuelled fog," explains Régis, who describes himself—not without a glint in his eye—as a 'picture peddler".