Willy Ronis

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Willy Ronis
Born August 14, 1910(1910-08-14)
Paris, France
Died September 12, 2009 (aged 99)
Paris, France
Occupation Photographer

Willy Ronis (August 14, 1910 – September 12, 2009[1]) was a French photographer, the best-known of whose work shows life in post-war Paris and Provence.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Ronis was born in Paris; his father was a Jewish refugee from Odessa, and his mother was a refugee from Lithuania, both escaped from the pogroms. His father opened a photography studio in Montmartre, and his mother gave piano lessons.[citation needed] The boy's early interest was music and he hoped to become a composer. Returning from compulsory military service in 1932, his violin studies were put on hold because his father's cancer required Ronis to take over the family portrait business; Ronis' passion for music has been observed in his photographs.[2] His father died in 1936, whereupon the business collapsed and Ronis went freelance, his first photographs being published in Regards.[3] In 1937 he met David Szymin and Robert Capa, and did his first work for Plaisir de France; in 1938–39 he reported on a strike at Citroën and traveled in the Balkans.[3] With Cartier-Bresson, Ronis belonged to Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, and remained a man of the left.[2]

[edit] Photography career

The work of photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams inspired Ronis to begin exploring photography.[citation needed] After his father's death, in 1936, Ronis closed the studio and joined the photo agency Rapho, with Brassaï, Robert Doisneau and Ergy Landau.[citation needed]

Ronis became the first French photographer to work for Life.[citation needed] In 1953, Edward Steichen included Ronis, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Izis, and Brassaï in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art titled Five French Photographers.[3] In 1955, Ronis was included in the Family of Man exhibition. The Venice Biennale awarded him its Gold Medal in 1957.[3] Ronis began teaching in the 1950s, and taught at the School of Fine Arts in Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and Saint Charles, Marseilles. In 1979 he was awarded the Grand Prix des Arts et Lettres for Photography by the Minister for Culture.[3] Ronis won the Prix Nadar in 1981 for his photobook, Sur le fil du hasard.[3]

Provençal Nude by Willy Ronis, 1949.

Ronis' wife, the Communist militant painter Marie-Anne Lansiaux (1910–91),[2] was the subject of his well-known 1936 photograph, Nu provençal (Provençal nude). The photograph, taken in a house that he and Anne Marie had just bought in Gordes,[4] showed Marie-Anne washing at a basin with a water pitcher on the floor and an open window through which the viewer can see a garden, this is noted for its ability to convey an easy feeling of Provençal life. The photograph was a "huge success";[2] Ronis would comment, "The destiny of this image, published constantly around the world, still astonishes me."[4] Ronis lived in Provence from the 1960s to the 1980s.[2]

Late in her life, Ronis photographed Marie-Anne suffering from Alzheimer's disease, sitting alone in a park surrounded by autumn trees.[5]

Ronis' nudes and fashion work (for Vogue and Le Jardin des modes) show his appreciation for natural beauty;[2] meanwhile, he remained a principled news photographer, resigning from Rapho for a twenty-five year period when he objected to the hostile captioning by the New York Times to his photograph of a strike.[2]

Despite stiff competition from Robert Doisneau and others, the Oxford Companion to the Photograph terms Ronis "the photographer of Paris par excellence".[2]

Ronis continued to live and work in Paris, although he stopped photography in 2001, since he required a cane to walk and could not move around with his camera. He also worked on books for the Taschen publishing company.[citation needed]

Ronis died at age 99, on September 12, 2009.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Photo-reportage et chasse aux images. Paris: Publications Photo-Cinéma Paul Montel, 1951.
  • Belleville-Ménilmontant. Grenoble: Arthaud, 1954. Paris: Arthaud, 1984. ISBN 2700304861. Paris: Arthaud, 1989. Paris: Hoëbeke, 1999. ISBN 2842300815.
  • Îles de Paris. [N.p.]: Arthaud, 1957.
  • Paris. [Paris]: Arthaud, 1962.
  • Paris in Colour. London: Allen & Unwin, 1964.
  • Paris in Color. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964.
  • Sur le fil du hasard. Paris: Contrejour, 1980. ISBN 2859490337.
  • Willy Ronis. [N.p.]: Galerie municipale du Château d'eau, c.1981. ISBN 2903116199.
  • Willy Ronis. Paris: P. Belfond, 1983. ISBN 2714416047.
  • Willy Ronis par Willy Ronis. Paris: Association française pour la diffusion du patrimoine photographique, 1985.
  • Mon Paris. Paris: Denoël, 1985. ISBN 2207231666.
  • La Traversée de Belleville. Paris: Le Bar floréal, 1990.
  • Willy Ronis. Paris: Centre national de la photographie, 1991. ISBN 2867540666.
  • Willy Ronis, 1934-1987. Paris: Editions Treville, 1991. ISBN 4845706881.
  • Portrait de Saint-Benoît-du-Sault. Paris: Calmann-Lévy; Versailles: Editions P. Olivieri, 1992.
  • Toutes belles. Paris: Editions Hoëbeke, 1992. ISBN 2905292490.
  • Willy Ronis: Photographs, 1926-1995. Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, 1995.
  • Willy Ronis: 70 ans de déclics. Paris: Musées de la ville de Paris, 1996. ISBN 2879003180.
  • A nous la vie! 1936–1958. Paris: Hoëbeke, 1996. ISBN 2842300092.
  • Vivement Noël! Paris: Hoëbeke, 1996. ISBN 2842300203.
  • Autoportrait. Cognac: Fata Morgana, 1996. ISBN 2851944118.
  • Les Sorties du dimanche. Paris: Nathan, 1997. ISBN 2097542042.
  • Provence. Paris: Hoëbeke, 1998. ISBN 284230036X.
  • Sundays by the River. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999. ISBN 1560988878.
  • Willy Ronis: Marie-Anne, Vincent et moi. Trézélan: Filigranes éd., 1999. ISBN 2910682765.
  • Sur le fil du hasard, rétrospective: Willy Ronis photographies. Antony: Maison des Arts, 1999.
  • Belleville Ménilmontant. Paris: Hoëbeke, 1999. ISBN 2842300815.
  • Mémoire textile. Strasbourg: La Nuée bleue, 2000. ISBN 2716505381.
  • Willy Ronis for Press Freedom. London: Reporters without borders, 2001. ISBN 2908830612.
  • Derrière l'objectif de Willy Ronis: Photos et propos. Paris: Hoëbeke, 2001. ISBN 2842301234.
  • Willy Ronis 55. London: Phaidon, 2002. ISBN 0-7148-4167-6.
  • Willy Ronis: "La vie en passant". Munich: Prestel, 2004. ISBN 3791329308.
  • Le Val et les bords de Marne. Paris: Terrebleue, 2004. ISBN 2913019307.
  • Willy Ronis: Stolen Moments / Gestohlene Augenblicke / Instants dérobés. Cologne: Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-3958-2.
  • Willy Ronis: Paris, éternellement. Paris: Hoëbeke, 2005. ISBN 2842302451.
  • Willy Ronis. Barcelona: Obra Social Fundacioń "La Caixa", 2006. ISBN 8476649010.
  • Ce jour-la. Paris: Mercure de France, 2006. ISBN 2715226616. Paris: Gallimard, 2008. ISBN 9782070358625.
  • Les Chats de Willy Ronis. Paris: Flammarion, 2007. ISBN 2081206870.
  • Nues. with Philippe Sollers Paris: Terre bleue, 2008. ISBN 9782909953229.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Top French Photographer Willy Ronis Dead at 99" Associated Press, September 12, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Willy Ronis"; in The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, ed. Robin Lenman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; ISBN 0-19-866271-8). The author of this article is identified as "PH"; it is not clear whether "PH" is Patricia Hayes or Paul Hill.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Untitled chronology, Willy Ronis 55 (London: Phaidon, 2002; ISBN 0-7148-4167-6), pp. 126–127.
  4. ^ a b Paul Ryan, commentary within Willy Ronis 55, p.50.
  5. ^ Hopkinson, Amanda (16 September 2009). "Willy Ronis obituary". Guardian News and Media. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/16/willy-ronis-obituary. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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