Starting in 1985 Willy Ronis immerses himself in his photographic collection and selects what he considers the essential of his work. He made six albums including 590 photos that represent for him his photographic testament. These are the matrix of this exhibition. The Eye of photography underscores the importance of this great photographer who left us almost ten years ago by publishing each day one of the nine components of this exceptional exhibition, today: His Early Years.
Born in 1910, Willy Ronis, son of a neighborhood photographer, was immersed from a young age in the photography community, even though he never appreciated the genre of work. His grand ambition was music. In 1926, for his sixteenth birthday, his father gave him his first camera, a 6.5 x 11 cm Kodak camera with bellows that allowed him to take his first photographs in the Chevreuse Valley, during his vacation in the mountains as well as in the streets of Paris. During his adventures, he discovered the Société Française de Photographie building and its exhibitions.
Around the same time, in 1929, he took some self-portraits, strongly composed, luminous, a little artsy, where violins, sheet music, and bows denote his love for music. “In 1932,” he wrote, “when I returned from military service, I had to help my father who fell very ill. That’s how, despite myself, I became a professional photographer, but I was really unhappy in the studio. I consoled myself outside, taking photographs that conformed more to my taste…”
From these first images, his attention to and his empathy for people and the working class world are evident. The death of his father and the selling of the house in 1936 allowed him to have total freedom and led to his covering the social conflicts of the time.
Jean-Claude Gautrand
Jean-Claude Gautrand is an author and exhibition curator specialized in photography. He lives and works in Paris.
Willy Ronis par Willy Ronis
From April 27 through September 29, 2018
Pavillon Carré de Baudouin
121 rue de Ménilmontant
75020 Paris
Tuesday to Saturday from 11h to 18h Free admission
