Françoise Sullivan
Portrait de deux révolutionnaires no° 2

1972

On several occasions during the 1970s, Françoise Sullivan spent time in Italy in order to saturate herself with the art currents that were developing around arte povera and conceptual art. In Rome, she met prominent artists and intellectuals, among them Gianfranco Sanguinetti, the famous revolutionary theoretician who was a member of the Italian section of the Situationist International founded in Paris by Guy Debord. In June 1972, she was in Greve in Chianti in the company of her sons, who were joined by Sanguinetti, Debord and his wife, Alice Becker-Ho. Sullivan took photographs during this sojourn, including many of her son, Geoffrey Ewen, then seventeen, in the company of Sanguinetti. Portrait de deux révolutionnaires n° 2 was made in two versions, the first of which has not been located. This second version was created from original documents found in the artist’s archive and conveys the rebel force that emanates from the two protagonists.