Zissou in His Tire Boat, Chateau de Rouzat

The subjects of Jacques Henri Lartigue’s pictures communicate a carefree sensibility, as if to say, “I don’t care what I look like, I am having an adventure.” Lartigue’s photographs, which include some of the 20th century’s most humorous images, often feature the photographer’s brothers—peeling out in racecars, flying precarious-looking airplanes, and swimming in dress suits and silly hats. Sport becomes a metaphor for the energy and anarchy of modern life, with its adult-sized toys.