Henri Dauman‘s photographs take viewers back to the golden age of American magazines and the beautiful photographs they published. It was the time of clever framing, innovative angles, creative approaches—technique was everything. By manufacturing “icons,” Dauman went from being a photojournalist to being a photographer.
Henri Dauman was only 10 when tragedy struck his family. The French Militia viciously raided French homes. It was the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup. His mother bravely hid him when the rest of the family was deported to Auschwitz. He stayed until the end of the war with a Norman family that lived only a few miles away from the Normandy Landing beaches. Returning in 1945, with his mother, to the neighborhood where he was born, Montmartre. Life slowly went back to normal, despite his father’s death in a concentration camp.
In 1946, a tragic story made headlines. A local pharmacist had poisoned ten customers with adulterated drugs. One of the victims was Henri’s mother. Orphaned, he was placed in various families before joining the last remaining member of his family, in New York.
He left for America on December 14th, 1950. He never returned to Europe. The young Henri Dauman dreamed of the movies but decided to become a photographer. Self-taught and resourceful, the Frenchman seduced and convinced his clients, gradually earning more and more commissions.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
EXHIBITION
Henri Dauman, The Manhattan Darkroom
From November 4th to December 4th 2014
Palais d’Iena
9, Place d’Iena
75016 Paris
France
