We learned of the passing of Annie Boulat yesterday. She was the matriarch of a family deeply rooted in photography: Pierre Boulat, her late husband, was a renowned photographer for LIFE magazine; Alexandra Boulat, their daughter, was an award-winning war photographer and co-founder of the VII Photo Agency, who passed away tragically in 2007.
To honor their work, Annie founded and served as president of the Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Association. The association manages their photographic archives and supports contemporary photojournalists through the annual Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award, which provides an 8,000€ grant to photographers pursuing socially significant reporting projects.
Tributes are pouring in; among them, Jean-François Leroy of Visa pour l’Image writes:
It is with infinite sadness that I announce the passing of Annie Boulat.
She was a key figure in the world of photography.
She founded the Cosmos agency, which initially represented the Contact agency.
Annie also housed the first VII agency office in Paris. Her daughter Alexandra was one of the founders of this agency.
We must also mention her husband Pierre Boulat, the only French photographer to have joined the staff of Life magazine.
With Annie’s passing, photography has lost a member of a great family that will forever remain in the history of photography.
On a personal note, but also on behalf of the entire Visa pour l’Image team, we send our love to Antoinette, her second daughter, and Lucie, her granddaughter.
And we mourn.
In September, there will be a star sorely missing from the sky above Perpignan.
Jean-François Leroy
The photographic agency Contact Press Images published the following tribute on their Instagram account.
Sad news reached us this morning with the passing of Annie Boulat, the indefatigable spirit of the French agency Cosmos 56 Boulevard de la Tour Mauberg in Paris and a legend in photojournalism in Europe. Annie was absolutely an integral part of Contact and its history in France and really Europe. A sweet, can-do, photo agent who could reach anyone and extract remarkable deals and guarantees like few could and still remain friends with client publications.
So much of Europe-bound package traffic passed through her hands in the early days and she worked tirelessly to move on parcels meant for other European capitals to make sure they made their trains and planes.
She and her husband photographer and co-founder of Cosmos, Pierre, gone from us many years now and the namesake for a generous photo grant in France, saw their daughter Alexandra, VII agency photographer passed away tragically and long before her parents.
Annie, you made your mark and will be forever remembered so fondly. Rest well.
Contact Press Images
David Friend sent us this photograph of Annie Boulat here at Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan, with our late founder and publisher Jean-Jacques Naudet (left) and Alexandra Boulat, Annie and Pierre’s daughter.
