Janine Niepce was born on February 12, 1921 in Meudon in a family of Burgundy winegrowers. In 1944, she obtained a license in History of Art and Archeology at the Sorbonne. At the same time, she developed films for the Resistance and participated in the liberation of Paris as a liaison agent.
From 1946, she was one of the first French to practice the profession of reporter-photographer and traveled across France for the Commissariat for Tourism and Foreign Affairs: she testified to the developments, but also to the permanence of a changing society. She joined the Rapho agency in 1955 and produced her first reports on supervised childbirth and family planning, addressing what would become a major theme of her work: the condition of women. From 1963, she traveled in Europe and the world (Japan, India, Cambodia, United States, Canada) and, in May 1968, covered events dressed as a foreign tourist.
Between 1970 and 1980, she followed women’s struggles for the freedom of contraception and abortion, and for equal pay, produced numerous portraits of women, famous or anonymous, in Paris and in the provinces. From 1984 to 1986, she produced reports on advanced technology professions for the French Ministry of Research. She died in 2007 in Paris.
Janine Niepce has published ten books and her works are exhibited and preserved in numerous French and international museums. Since June 2010, his photographs have been distributed exclusively by the Roger-Viollet agency.
Agence Roger-Viollet
6, rue de Seine 75006 Paris
Tél : +33(0)1 55 42 89 00
