Willy Ronis

The French photographer Willy Ronis (1910 – 2009) is often mentioned in the same breath as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau as one of the foremost "humanist photographers," his work centering on facets of human life. Many of his pictures have inscribed themselves as icons in our collective memory, shaping how we view the life and culture of our French neighbors. The exhibition highlights over 60 years in Ronis' long career and covers all thematic aspects of his oeuvre. He made his debut in the 1930s with photos of strikes and mass protests. Vibrant city life in Paris and suburbs such as Belleville Ménilmontant then became his photographic biotope in the immediate postwar years. From 1947 on, he began spending most of his time in the Provence, whose bucolic beauty he captures in the days before the onset of mass tourism. Taken as a whole, his body of work reveals Willy Ronis to be a keen and compassionate observer of everyday life in France, a great humanist and chronicler of a century.