Willy Ronis

Willy Ronis
Born (1910-08-14)August 14, 1910
Paris, France
Died September 12, 2009(2009-09-12) (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, Emmanuel Ronis,[2] was a Jewish refugee from Odessa, and his mother, Ida Gluckmann,[2] was a refugee from Lithuania, both escaped from the pogroms. His father opened a photography studio in Montmartre, and his mother gave piano lessons.[3] 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.[4] His father died in 1936, whereupon the business collapsed and Ronis went freelance, his first photographs being published in Regards.[5] 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.[5] With Cartier-Bresson, Ronis belonged to Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, and remained a man of the left.[4]

Studies

The work of photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams inspired Ronis to begin exploring photography.[6] After his father's death, in 1936, Ronis closed the studio and joined the photo agency Rapho, with Brassaï, Robert Doisneau and Ergy Landau.[6]

Ronis became the first French photographer to work for Life.[6] 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.[5] In 1955, Ronis was included in the Family of Man exhibition. The Venice Biennale awarded him its Gold Medal in 1957.[5] 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.[5] Ronis won the Prix Nadar in 1981 for his photobook, Sur le fil du hasard.[5]

Marie-Anne

Ronis' wife, the Communist militant painter Marie-Anne Lansiaux (1910–91),[4] 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,[7] 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";[4] Ronis would comment, "The destiny of this image, published constantly around the world, still astonishes me."[7] Ronis lived in Provence from the 1960s to the 1980s.[4]

Late in her life, Ronis photographed Marie-Anne suffering from Alzheimer's disease, sitting alone in a park surrounded by autumn trees.[8]

Late in life

Ronis' nudes and fashion work (for Vogue and Le Jardin des modes) show his appreciation for natural beauty;[4] meanwhile, he remained a principled news photographer, resigning from Rapho for a 25-year period when he objected to the hostile captioning by The New York Times to his photograph of a strike.[4]

Despite stiff competition from Robert Doisneau and others, the Oxford Companion to the Photograph terms Ronis "the photographer of Paris par excellence".[4]

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.[6]

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.[9]

Exhibition at Rencontres d'Arles festival, Arles, France, in 2009.[10][11]

Ronis died at age 99, on September 12, 2009.[8][12][13][14]

Works

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Top French Photographer Willy Ronis Dead at 99" Associated Press, September 12, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Willy Ronis". Who's Who In France. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Hackel Bury Fine Art - Willy Ronis
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "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.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Untitled chronology, Willy Ronis 55 (London: Phaidon, 2002; ISBN 0-7148-4167-6), pp. 126–127.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Willy Ronis Biography
  7. 1 2 Paul Ryan, commentary within Willy Ronis 55, p. 50.
  8. 1 2 Hopkinson, Amanda (16 September 2009). "Willy Ronis obituary". Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  9. ↑ "Paris dans l'oeil de Willy Ronis". Paris. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  10. ↑ http://rencontres-arles-photo.tv/artiste/ronis-willy/
  11. ↑ http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/2009/08/10/03004-20090810ARTFIG00209-willy-ronis-la-photographie-exhibitionniste-me-derange-.php
  12. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6179580/French-photographer-Willy-Ronis-dies.html
  13. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/arts/design/18ronis.html
  14. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092204117.html

External links

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