This month Fayard Editions publish a new book by Richard Melloul entitled Mitterrand par les grands photographes : Abbas, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Patrick Artinian, Claude Azoulay, Bruno Barbey, Jean-Gabriel Barthelemy, Henri Bureau, David Burnett, René Burri, Gilles Caron, Raymond Depardon, Elliott Erwitt, Gisele Freund, Diego Goldberg, William Karel, Youssuf Karsh, Alain Keler, Jacques Langevin, Guy Le Querrec, Pascal Lesegretan, Richard Melloul, Georges Mérillon, Alain Noguès, Thierry Orban, Jacques Pavlovsky, Michel Philippot, Gérard Rancinan, Pascal Rostain, André Sas, Christian Simonpietri, Paul Slade, Peter Turnley, Gilbert Uzan.
“It is often said that a good photo speaks for itself. This is true of every image in this book. And yet, put together, they seem more powerful because they tell a story that goes beyond what each of them represents on its own. I am convinced that something special can emerge from an encounter between diverse talents. To give concrete form to this idea, I wanted to design a book that brings together the best images by great photographers grouped around a common theme.
The choice of the subject, François Mitterrand, was quite obvious. He is the last public persona to have had a profound impact on collective imagination. I find it quite hard to explain it myself.
I am no historian, political scientist, or sociologist. But I am a photographer, and I know that every time I had him in my viewfinder, something out of the ordinary took place. He emanated an unusual force of character. However far the camera was placed, or whatever the distance he had imposed, the tension was always there. In my mind, François Mitterrand will always be the epitome of what I would call charisma.
When I launched into the project, this is the dimension I wanted to illustrate. And I believe I can say that this is precisely what comes across in the exceptional quality of images which make up this book.
I am proud to have brought this project, not without assistance, to a successful conclusion. Photographers rarely have an opportunity to create a collective work… Reviewing the list of the contributors to this book is a pleasure I hope others will share. Here one can find those whom I call my heroes. They stirred my imagination and taught me my profession; for a long time, they were my role models. And then there are those, equally precious, with whom I have worked throughout my career. The former and the latter are my world.
It was all the more important for me to bring them together because the content of this book would be impossible to produce today. We were driven by a passion that is certainly not foreign to the present generation of photographers; however, we possessed a decisive advantage: freedom. There was no talk of “celebrity culture”; the obsession with communication was in its nascent stages and hadn’t yet wreaked the havoc we witness today. In those days, François Mitterrand was not surrounded by a host of image-conscious experts; he didn’t need anyone telling him what was done and what wasn’t; and we were free to act. Who would presume that a photo of François Mitterrand watching election results next to his wife, from the comfort of his bed, would be acceptable today? But then it wasn’t shocking at all; it was simply a moment in his life. This is also the ambition of this book: to allow us to get a closer look at the life of a man who will forever remain one of the major figures of the century.”
Richard Melloul
BOOK
Mitterrand par les plus grands photographes
by Richard Melloul
EAN : 9782213699097
288 pages
Format : 250 x 316 mm
45.00 €
