His tragic death caused a stir far beyond the circle of photography and flamenco enthusiasts.
René Robert, 85, died on the night of January 19 to 20.
He had gone for a walk in the early evening, fell, and no one ever picked him up.
The circumstances of his death were revealed on
France Info
by his friend the journalist Michel Mompontet.
After his fall, René Robert remained for nine hours on the very busy sidewalk of rue Turbigo, between Place de la République and Les Halles, without anyone deigning to stop.
How could a visibly injured man stay all night on the ground without anyone coming to help him?
Belated and all-consuming passion
A prolific photographer, René Robert was born in 1936 in Friborg in the Swiss Alps.
His passion for photography came to him as a teenager thanks to “
the father of one of my very good friends who practiced shooting and developed his black and white images in his cellar.
He invited me to see how it was going and it was a revelation for me.
I found the appearance of the image quite miraculous
”, he said in an interview given to the specialized site
Musique Alhambra
.
Read alsoPhotographer René Robert, who died of indifference in the middle of the street
With his baccalaureate in hand, René Robert decided to pursue his passion for the image.
He initially made a living from photography thanks to commissions for advertising and fashion.
Food jobs.
He was already in his thirties when he discovered the passion that would drive his career and his life.
It was not an Andalusian but a Swede met in the capital who passed on the flamenco virus to him.
She takes him to the
Catalan
, a tablao, a famous flamenco club in post-war Paris.
"
Picasso had frequented it, especially since his studio was located in the street.
This tablao was the meeting place of some Spaniards from Paris but also of all people who were interested in Flamenco.
It benefited from an extraordinary time, because it was the Franco period, and the owner, who had a
“
good nose
”
, brought artists from Spain
”, he confided to
Alhambra Music
.
Very quickly, his new passion infused his photographic production, and he became known in the microcosm of Parisian flamenco.
Paco de Lucia, Enrico Morente, Rocio Molina, Israel Galvan… What flamenco at the time did best came under his lens.
Read alsoIsrael Galvan, free flamenco
It was through flamenco that he met Michel Mompontet, a lover of traditional Andalusian music.
“
He was systematically at the flamenco concert and he knew the artists well, so it was a good gateway to try to approach them
, confides the journalist and musician to
Le Figaro
.
He was an extremely knowledgeable person with incredible discretion, who had a real feeling for approaching artists.
»
"
Kindness
", "
delicacy
", "
discretion
", the journalist is full of praise for his missing friend.
More than a flamenco lover, René Robert is a photographer capable of sublimating moments like few others.
Michel Mompontet retains
"his incredible aesthetic sense".
An image artist who made no concessions.
“
He had remained on film, he refused technological developments to the end.
For him black and white is the color of flamenco.
He said
"I have the talent to wait for the right moment."
These photos said something as profound as the art produced by the artists
,” explains the journalist.
Death still unexplained
His sudden death and the circumstances of it particularly shocked those close to him.
Despite his 85 spring, the Swiss continued to go about his business and go out.
When he fell on January 19, he was walking around his neighborhood, like every evening or almost after dinner.
The France Info journalist assures him, “
he was in great shape
”
.
“
He had a very Spartan life, he was an ascetic who didn't smoke or drink
,” he says.
The emergency services that transported him to Cochin hospital are still unable to explain his death.
“
He fell and couldn't get up.
We just know that there is a head trauma
, ”assures Michel Mompontet.
Read alsoSpain: Casa Patas, the Madrid flamenco temple had to shut down
At the end of his column, the journalist launched an appeal in the form of a bottle to the sea on Monday, to try to find the person who had finally rescued René Robert.
A wish that seems about to be granted, according to Michel Mompontet.
“
His widow has gone in search of the person who rescued him.
She found a woman called Fabienne, to whom she and René had been giving clothes for a long time.
It was his companion who allegedly called the fire department.
They need to meet to talk about it.
»
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