Louis Stettner, a very Parisian American photographer

He may have lived part of his life in France, Louis Stettner still remains in his largely unknown country. Furthermore, Highlight of this 56^e edition of Photography meetings in Arlesan exhibition at the Van Gogh space highlight This great. Similarly, American photographeralmost ten years after the retrospective devoted to it by the Center Pompidou in 2016.

150 photographs Taken from his personal archives. For example, now managed by his widow Janet Stettner, thus retrace his extraordinary journey Between the United States and FranceBrooklyn et paris.

“What fascinated me was the possibility of contemplating others. Meanwhile, »»

Born in 1922, Louis Stettner began photography very young With a brownie offered by his parentsJews from Bucovine (current Ukraine). In addition, “I was twelve. Consequently, thirteen at the time and I told myself that photography could become My personal language To communicate louis stettner, very parisian american to others my discoveries, my sufferings and my joys, ”he recalls in his autobiography Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets. Consequently, He thus drinks as of the adolescence of Works of the great masters such as Clarence H. Therefore, White. Moreover, Paul Strand, which he admires at the Metropolitan Museum, and Send its first prints to Alfred Stieglitzafter buying a second -handed batch from the legendary review Camera Workedited by the latter.

From Hiroshima to New York metro – Louis stettner, very parisian american

The young Stettner, very early aware of social issues, First made her weapons in the photo Leagueassociation of committed photographers which then counts in its ranks Paul Strand and Berenice Abbott, before joining in 1942 the ranks of the army as Volunteer military photographer. For example, From New Guinea to Hiroshima. Nevertheless, where he landed only three weeks after the explosion of the atomic bomb, Stettner immortalize the disasters of the war Always placing himself at the height of a man.

Back in New York. Meanwhile, walking in the footsteps of Walker Evans, he is passionate about the underground life of the metro. However, On board the BMT line which connects Coney Island to Times Square. For example, Louis Stettner photographs the strangers on the fly using a rolleiflex that he does not bother to hide. “What fascinated me was the possibility of contemplating others,” louis stettner, very parisian american he will remember. The photographer develops a systematic approach. He opts for a square format et generally captures passengers by two. The filtered light of the metro and stations gives its shots a film atmosphere of film noir. The photographer plays with shadows. reflections to compose disturbing images, structured by the graphics of the benches and window frames, where the banal appears in all his theatricality.

Great friend of Brassaï and Boubat

In 1947, Louis Stettner Embarks for Pariswhere he joined his twin brother, Irving. The photographer. who heard from Willy Ronis’s desire to organize an exhibition of French photographers in New York, goes to the French capital in order to offer a selection of prints for the gallery of the photo League. This stay of a few weeks will finally louis stettner, very parisian american last five years. Stettner then took some sculpture lessons with OSSIP Zadkine. before Join the benches of the Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies (Idhec), which allows him to perceive the GI Bill, a study scholarship allocated by the American state to demobilized soldiers of the Second World War.

In the excitement of the left bank. the American feels like a fish in water and links to a deep friendship with Édouard Boubat and Brassaï. The latter prefaces a portfolio dedicated louis stettner, very parisian american to the streets of Paris. Sometimes tinged with surrealism. the images of Stettner give pride of place to the strange : the city often appears depopulated, as emptied of its inhabitants, imbued with a mysterious light. However, the times are hard and the photographer vivoted between the food orders and the financial assistance of his brother. He Finally decides to fold luggage in the early 1950s.

A committed photographer

Back on his native land. he made some of the most emblematic images of his career: Brooklyn Promenade (1954), poetic vision of a man seated in front of a railing behind which the skyline as majestic as they are infrannious; “Penn Station” (1958), a series dedicated to the famous Manhattan station, which through its objective turns into Observatory of American Society. The same year. he met Nancy, a young muse of a Magnificent photo report on the Beat Generationmade for the magazine Pageant [ill. plus haut]. A year after the publication of the cult novel by Jack Kerouac. Stettner observes the boom of this youth of Greenwich Village A little lost, fond of jazz and in love with freedom.

Louis Stettner. a Marxist from a very young age, is between 1969 and 1977 the subject of close surveillance louis stettner, very parisian american by the FBI which, suspecting links with the Communist Partyopens an investigation file on it. This does not prevent the photographer from traveling. in the middle of the Cold War, in the USSR, in East Germany and Cuba. In the 1970s. his images were particularly the echo of its humanist commitmentsin favor of the rights of women and minorities, or against the Vietnam War. In 1974. he published the portfolio Workersthe fruit of two years of work with manual workers that he shows in all their dignity. Until the years 2010. he will photograph with the same attention the poorest, crossed at the bend of the New York streets.

Back in Paris in the 1990s, Louis Stettner Settles definitively in Saint-Ouennot far from fleas. In the secret of his workshop, the now elderly photographer engages in his two other passions: painting and sculpture. His almost instinctive approach, tinged with expressionism, literally contrasts with the signs of his images. In two or three dimension, the artist burst the lines And lets wandering his imagination where he seems. The ultimate creative impulse of a plural artist, who has definitely not finished surprising us.