Willy Ronis

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

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

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.[2] 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.[3] His father died in 1936, whereupon the business collapsed and Ronis went freelance, his first photographs being published in Regards.[4] In 1937 he met David Seymour 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.[4] With Cartier-Bresson, Ronis belonged to Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, and remained a man of the left.[3]

Studies

The work of photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams inspired Ronis to begin exploring photography.[5] After his father's death, in 1936, Ronis closed the studio and joined the photo agency Rapho, with Brassaï, Robert Doisneau and Ergy Landau.[5]

Ronis became the first French photographer to work for Life.[5] 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.[4] In 1955, Ronis was included in the Family of Man exhibition. The Venice Biennale awarded him its Gold Medal in 1957.[4] 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.[4] Ronis won the Prix Nadar in 1981 for his photobook, Sur le fil du hasard.[4]

Marie-Anne

Ronis' wife, the Communist militant painter Marie-Anne Lansiaux (1910–91),[3] was the subject of his well-known 1949 photograph, Nu provençal (Provençal nude). The photograph, taken in a house that Marie-Anne and he had just bought in Gordes,[6] 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";[3] Ronis would comment, "The destiny of this image, published constantly around the world, still astonishes me."[6] Ronis lived in Provence from the 1960s to the 1980s.[3]

Late in her life, Ronis photographed Marie-Anne suffering from Alzheimer's disease, sitting alone in a park surrounded by autumn trees.[7]

Late in life

Ronis' nudes and fashion work (for Vogue and Le Jardin des modes) show his appreciation for natural beauty;[3] 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.[3]

Despite stiff competition from Robert Doisneau and others, the Oxford Companion to the Photograph terms Ronis "the photographer of Paris par excellence".[3]

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.[5]

In 2005-2006 the City of Paris presented "Willy Ronis in Paris", a big retrospective show of his work, that had a huge success with over than 500,000 visitors.[8]

Exhibition at Rencontres d'Arles (French) festival (France) in 2009.

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

Works

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Top French Photographer Willy Ronis Dead at 99" Associated Press, September 12, 2009.
  2. ↑ Hackel Bury Fine Art - Willy Ronis
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "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.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Untitled chronology, Willy Ronis 55 (London: Phaidon, 2002; ISBN 0-7148-4167-6), pp. 126–127.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Willy Ronis Biography
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Paul Ryan, commentary within Willy Ronis 55, p. 50.
  7. ↑ Hopkinson, Amanda (16 September 2009). "Willy Ronis obituary". Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  8. ↑ "Paris dans l'oeil de Willy Ronis". Paris. Retrieved 2010-05-19.

External links