A little boy running all smiles with his baguette under his arm, a naked woman in a Provençal house, in the summer, refreshing herself with water from a basin, the jubilant crowd at the Popular Front victory parades, the lovers of the Bastille… The new Reporters Without Borders album salutes the “poetic realism” of Willy Ronis.
Entitled
Willy Ronis, 100 photos for freedom of the press
, the NGO brings together around a hundred photos of the man who was passionate about “spontaneous street photography”.
Born in 1910 in Paris, the humanist photographer died at the age of 99 in 2009. His photos of the Popular Front marked the beginning of his career, which was interrupted to take the turn towards university teaching in the 1970s. Sombrant little by little forgotten, his photographic work was recognized again 10 years later after the publication of the book
Sur le fil du chance.
Also read: Willy Ronis in the eye of his grandson
Willy Ronis brought ordinary people out of the shadows, made everyday life a source of enchantment, established the imagination of Paris as the capital of lovers and a place where it is good to live together.
Driven by a deep political conscience, the left-wing photographer did not neglect the harshness of the times, also immortalizing those who suffered.
His images of the world of work, the extraordinary portrait of a miner ravaged by hard work and silicosis, the precarious conditions of a couple in the privacy of their shabby room at the Hôtel du Nord... mark his commitment social.
“His popularity today is immense.
It is undoubtedly the recognition of a work that speaks to the hearts of all.
A work more learned than it seems, nourished by loyalties and cracks, musical and pictorial culture, empathy for the little people who toil, gather and assemble - and love of life.
, writes the historian Tangui Perron, author of
Rose Zehner and Willy Ronis, birth of an image
, in reference to the famous photo of the trade unionist taken on the spot haranguing the workers on strike at Citroën, in 1938.
Moving testimonies
The photographer could also compose his photos like paintings, pose the artists Picasso, Jacques Prévert, Isabelle Huppert or his colleagues Robert Capa and Brassaï.
His reports took him to East Germany to capture other street children on film, to Poland to immortalize other workers whose arduous task he highlighted.
The Reporters Without Borders album offers a wide range of his work.
Enriched with beautiful texts from friends, experts and artists, it interweaves scholarly insights into his work and moving testimonies.
Willy Ronis, 100 photos for press freedom
, 12.50 euros.