Continuation of the interview with Micheline Decamps by Anabela Becho.
Did he direct the models?
M.D.: Yes, for setting up the image, for the constraints imposed by the light and the frame of mind the model had to reflect back to him. But after that they were free, because they had a gift (because it really is a gift!) the art of moving one’s body is not something everyone has.
From our first covers for Les Veillées des chaumières, with the very young Brigitte Bardot and Marie-José Nat, to the covers of ELLE with American supermodels Suzy Parker and Dorian Leigh… Georges had the good fortune to work with the very best. I have to say that nothing impressed him, absolutely nothing, not even the most famous models, like Bettina and Sophie Litvak. He was not easily star-struck, he wasn’t snobbish; he had a natural, relaxed relationship with everyone. Georges was cool.
Did he have a particularly close professional rapport with one model?
M.D.: [After thinking for a few moments] Perhaps Suzy Parker, for her professionalism and her personality, and Simone d’Aillancourt for her inimitable humour — and as Georges used to say, “you could put a potato sack on her back and you’d think it had been made by Dior”.
Did Georges receive directions from his clients, and did he follow them?
M.D.: Yes! I’d call them indications, nothing more, because he did what he wanted [laughs].
But always while respecting what the magazine or the client had commissioned.
Did he have a lot of energy when he worked?
M.D.: An enormous amount — and he was very demanding of others and of himself. Whether during the shoot or when we were selecting images together, if we had the time, everything had to be perfect. Implacably professional and a perfectionist, but an adorable perfectionist. What really won me over about him was the way he worked. Despite his extreme rigour, he managed, thanks to his energy, to maintain a wonderful atmosphere on set, and that’s why his photographs feel so alive compared with the standards of the time.
What would you say are the most striking characteristics of Georges Dambier, professionally and personally?
M.D.: Professionally, I would say imagination. As for his personality, loyalty which has nothing to do with certain affairs [laughs]. He kept his friends all his life. He was also faithful to his ideas. You could offer him millions; if he didn’t feel it, he wouldn’t do it.
Georges wasn’t looking for glory; he didn’t care, and yet he could have had it. Looking back now at the great album of fashion photographs from the fifties and sixties, I find Georges’s work far more interesting than that of many photographers who are nevertheless much more famous. I say that quite apart from the affection I have for him. He wanted to be free and to do what he loved.
You told me that Georges Dambier never projected himself into the future?
M.D.: Only the present moment interested him. That is no doubt why his work is a little forgotten.
Interview by Anabela Becho. Paris, Octobre 2021
