Exhibition: ‘Sabine Weiss’ at Jeu de Paume

Exhibition dates: 18th June – 30th October 2016

A photographer I knew very little about before assembling this posting. The undoubted influence of Henri Cartier-Bresson can be seen in many images (such as Vendeurs de pain, Athènes 1958 and Village moderne de pêcheurs 1954, both below), while other images are redolent of Josef Koudelka (Marriage gitan, 1953) and Paul Strand (Jeune mineur, 1955).

Weiss strikes one as a solid photographer in the humanist, Family of Man tradition who doesn’t push the boundaries of the medium or the genre, nor generate a recognisable signature style.

Marcus

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Many thankx to Jeu de Paume for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Sabine Weiss is the last representative of the French humanist school of photography, which includes photographers like Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Édouard Boubat, Brassaï and Izis.

Still active at over 90 years of age, she has accepted for the first time to present her personal archives, thereby providing a privileged insight into her life and career as a photographer. The exhibition at the Château de Tours will showcase just a few milestones from her long career. Through almost 130 prints, as well as numerous period documents – many of which are being shown for the first time – this exhibition provides visitors with an overview of the multiple facets of this prolific artist, for whom photography was first and foremost, a fascinating occupation.

Sabine Weiss
Cheval, Porte de Vanves [Horse, Porte de Vanves]
Paris, 1952
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Vendeurs de pain, Athènes [Sellers of bread, Athens]
Grèce, 1958
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Village moderne de pêcheurs, Olhão, Algarve [Modern fishing village, Olhão, Algarve]
Portugal, 1954
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Times Square, New York
États-Unis [United States], 1955
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Feux de Bengale, Naples [Fires of Bengal, Naples]
Italie, 1955
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
André Breton chez lui, 42, rue Fontaine [André Breton at home, 42 rue Fontaine]
Paris, 1956
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Françoise Sagan chez elle, lors de la sortie de son premier roman Bonjour tristesse
[Françoise Sagan at home, with the release of his first novel Bonjour Tristesse]
Paris, 1954
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Enfant perdu dans un grand magasin, New York [Lost child in a department store, New York]
États-Unis [United States], 1955
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Vieille dame et enfant, Guadeloupe [Old lady and child, Guadeloupe]
1990
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
La Petite Égyptienne [Little Egyptian]
1983
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss is the last representative of the French humanist school of photography, which includes photographers like Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Édouard Boubat, Brassaï and Izis.
Still active at over 90 years of age, she has accepted for the first time to present her personal archives, thereby providing a privileged insight into her life and career as a photographer. The exhibition at the Château de Tours will showcase just a few milestones from her long career. Through almost 130 prints, as well as numerous period documents – many of which are being shown for the first time – this exhibition provides visitors with an overview of the multiple facets of this prolific artist, for whom photography was first and foremost, a fascinating occupation.

Née Weber in Switzerland in 1924, Sabine Weiss was drawn to photography from a very early age and did her apprenticeship at Paul Boissonnas’ studio, a dynasty of photographers practising in Geneva since the late nineteenth century. In 1946, she left Geneva for Paris and became the assistant of Willy Maywald, a German photographer living in the French capital, specialising in fashion photography and portraits. She married the American painter Hugh Weiss in 1950, and at this time embarked upon a career as an independent photographer. She moved into a small Parisian studio with her husband – where she continues to live today – and socialized in the artistic circles of the post-war period. This allowed her to photograph Georges Braque, Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti, André Breton and Ossip Zadkine, and later numerous musicians, writers and actors.

Circa 1952, Sabine Weiss joined the Rapho Agency thanks to Robert Doisneau’s recommendation. Her personal work met with immediate critical acclaim in the United States with exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis and the Limelight Gallery, New York. Three of her photographs were shown as part of the famous exhibition “The Family of Man”, organized by Edward Steichen in 1955, and Sabine obtained long-lasting contracts with The New York Times Magazine, Life, Newsweek, Vogue, Point de vue-Images du monde, Paris Match, Esquire, and Holiday. From that time and up until the 2000s, Sabine Weiss continued to work for the international illustrated press, as well as for numerous institutions and brands, seamlessly passing from reportage to fashion features, and from advertising to portaits of celebrities or social issues.

In the late 1970s, her work returned to the spotlight thanks to a growing revival of interest in so-called humanist photography on behalf of festivals and institutions. This interest encouraged Sabine to return to black and white photography. At over sixty years of age, she began a new body of personal work, punctuated by her travels in France, Egypt, India, Reunion Island, Bulgaria and Burma, and in which a more sentimental melody may be heard, centred on the pensive and solitary moments of human existence. At the same time, Sabine became the focus of a growing number of tributes, all of which has contributed to her reputation as an independent and dynamic photographer, with a great humanist sensibility and an eye for the detail of everyday life.

Virginie Chardin

Sabine Weiss
Marchande de frites
Paris, 1952
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
L’homme qui court, Paris [The man who runs, Paris]
1953
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Vitrine, Paris
1955
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Prêtre devant une trattoria, Rome [Priest before a trattoria, Roma]
Italie, 1957
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Terrain vague, Porte de Saint-Cloud [Vacant Land, Porte de Saint-Cloud]
Paris, 1950
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss
Enfants prenant de l’eau à la fontaine, rue des Terres-au-Curé
[Children taking water from the fountain, rue des Terres au Curé]
Paris, 1954
Silver gelatin print
© Sabine Weiss