This year the Prix HSBC pour la Photographie is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Every Wednesday, we’ll be taking a look back at the history of the prize and its winners since Chantal Nedjib founded it in 1995. This week we’ll get the ball rolling with the first two winners in 1996: Eric Prinvault and Henry Ray. But first we spoke with Christine Raoult, Executive Director about the history of the prize. .
L’Oeil de la Photographie: In 1996, the CCF launched a prize to honor two photographers per year. What was the goal of the prize and how was it seen by photo world professionals at the time?
Christine Raoult: Twenty years ago, when the Prix HSBC “ex CCF” pour la Photographie was created, very few patrons were involved with photography. It wasn’t yet considered a major art. The company has been involved with the photo world for the past 28 years. We were looking for a field of expression that matched our own values, a contemporary medium, something both attractive and accessible. Photography met all of our expectations.
We started out by giving carte blanche to some major photographer to illustrate our annuals reports. It was an offbeat and unexpected look for a bank. For nearly four years, we developed a partnership with the Centre National de la Photographie. We wanted to make a stronger and proactive investment in photography, especially through the support of young talent. We commissioned a study to identify the ways we could help them. After interviewing various institutions, gallery owners, artists and other professionals, we learned that one of the biggest difficulties facing photographers was the cost of publishing a monograph, and the risk involved for its publisher. It was a need that was concrete and real! Thus the Prix HSBC pour la Photographie was born. The first few years were difficult but the response from the photo world was very positive.
Since the creation of the prize, we have been lucky to be surrounded by committed people who have agreed to stick by us in this adventure: Actes Sud, our artistic advisors, the galleries, art centers and so on. The Prix HSBC is alive today thanks to them. Our commitment , supporting two talented young artists each year by helping to develop and promote their work in the professional and artistic milieu is related to the realization that the success of younger generations is a real issue for today’s society. It was through this act towards sustaining photography and the work of photographers that we hope to contribute to the development of this form of artistic expression.
