From the negative to the illustrated book, from the contact sheet to the exhibition print, the Denise Colomb donation kept at the Médiathèque du Patrimoine et de la Photographie bears witness to the work, built between the happenstance and curiosities, of a woman photographer.
The Denise Colomb donation to the State (1991) was supplemented in 2001 with 1500 prints, several hundred color slides and 2300 negatives taken since 1991. The collection consists of more than 50,000 negatives accompanied by their contact sheets and 2000 signed period or modern prints.
Discover today more than 3,500 images posted by the MPP on the open heritage platform.
Born in Paris in 1902, Denise Lœb first turned towards a musical career. In 1926, she married Gilbert Cahen, brother of Thérèse Le Prat. Three children were born from this union. In the mid-1930s, the Lœb family followed the father, a maritime engineer, in his various positions. On the route to the Far East, at the Port Said stopover, Denise Colomb bought her first camera.
From 1935 to 1937, from Saigon (French Indochina) she traveled from Cambodia to China, focusing particularly on the daily life of the people she met but also on the grandiose landscapes offered by Ha long Bay or the Great Wall of China.
On their return to France, the war and the Occupation opened a parenthesis in her budding career as a photographer. In 1942, she took refuge in Dieulefit under the name of Colomb. This explorer’s name became her photographer’s name. In 1947, she presented photographs taken in Indochina in her apartment. Her brother, Pierre Lœb, founder of the “Pierre gallery”, allowed her to meet many artists. Denise Colomb then produced portraits of artists who made her famous. Antonin Artaud, Giacometti, Picasso, Nicolas de Staël, Soulages and Miro all posed for her, in their studio or their daily setting.
From then on, her career oscillated between published reportages and exhibitions, notably at the Le Minotaure gallery in 1947, at the Pierre gallery in 1957, at the Museum of Decorative Arts (1969) or at the Pavillon des Arts (1990).
She collaborated with various magazines (Le Leicaïste, Regards, Le Photographe, Réalités) and carried out commissioned work for Point de vue et lmages du Monde. In 1948, Denise Colomb went to the West Indies at the invitation of Aimé Césaire and again in 1958. In France, she produced remarkable reportages on the island of Sein (1950), the coachmen of Paris (1954) or the life of Les Halles (1954). She travelled the world, and all her trips (to Italy, Portugal, Israel or Norway) became so many series of photos.
Close to humanist photographers like Édouard Boubat, she paid particular attention to facial expressions and everyday scenes.
The Denise Colomb donation to the State (1991) was supplemented in 2001 with 1500 prints, several hundred color slides and 2300 negatives taken since 1991. Today kept at the MPP, the collection consists of more than 50,000 negatives accompanied by their contact sheets and 2000 signed period or modern prints.
→ Discover more than 3,500 images posted by the MPP on the open heritage platform
https://mediatheque-patrimoine.culture.gouv.fr/collection/objet/denise-colomb-1902-2004
https://www.facebook.com/groups/766227252009679
https://www.instagram.com/denisecolombphotographe/
