Jean-Claude Lemagny. He was the adviser, the father, the hero, the mentor of all artistic photography from 1970 to the 2000s. To visit him in his office at the Bibliothèque Nationale or in the room that bore his name at the Arlatan hotel in Arles during the festival was for many an absolute “must”, a quest for an unavoidable blessing.
What an amazing couple he formed with his wife Anne Biroleau, another formidable figure of contemporary photography at the Bibliothèque Nationale!
It is the tribute of Bernard Descamps that we publish today!
Jean-Jacques Naudet
In France, in the 1970s, author photography was not well represented, little recognised. I remember that I found the Swiss magazine camera in one of the kiosks on the boulevard Saint Michel, an extraordinary magazine, as much for its choices, its texts as for the quality of the reproduction of the images. I also remember the opening of the Agathe Gaillard photography gallery in 1975. The first of its kind in Paris. Not enough to satisfy a young photographer’s appetite!
