PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA Willy Ronis 'Le Bidule', rue de la Huchette, Paris 1957 Gelatin silver print, printed 2001. 12 3/8 x 17 1/2 in. (31.4 x 44.5 cm). Signed in ink in the margin; initialed, annotated 'tirage 2001' in ink, titled 'Café Le Bidule', dated in pencil and copyright credit stamp on the verso.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Literature Taschen, Willy Ronis p. 54 Catalogue Essay WILLY RONIS CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF JOIE-DE-VIVRE Perhaps we have an invincible resistance to believing in the past, in History, except, in the form of myth. The Photograph, for the first time, puts an end to this resistance: henceforth the past is as certain as the present, what we see on paper is as certain as what we touch. Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida Celebrated for his classic black and white photographs of France, Willy Ronis’s images typify the exuberant vitality of French culture in the mid-20th century. Like his contemporaries, Ronis documented the unexpected moments, where observation and chance resulted in snapshots that highlight the understated elegance of everyday life. Born in 1910 to a Parisian household, Ronis first gained exposure to photography as a young apprentice at his father’s portrait studio. In the 1930’s, Ronis took on assignments as a photojournalist, pairing the technical skills he had learned at the studio with his ardent studying of the avant-garde styles showing in various galleries and bookshops across Paris. His works were published in weekly publications, and soon Ronis was represented by Rapho agency, joining luminaries such as Brassaï and Robert Doisneau Lauded for his work, Ronis was awarded the Prix Kodak in 1947. Shortly thereafter, from 1948-1950, Ronis became the first French photographer to work for LIFE magazine, a period that he has once characterized as "the Golden Age," and which provided him with his first international platform. The exposure to the international community grew significantly when Edward Steichen then Director of the Photographs Department at the Museum of Modern Art, invited Ronis in 1953 to participate in the MoMA show Five French Photographers, along with Izis, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ronis’s two Rapho agency comrades— Brassaï and Doisneau. The same year, Steichen also published a portfolio featuring Ronis’s work in US Camera Annual. Moreover, so enthused was the famed American photographer and curator by his French counterpart’s work, that in 1955 he included Ronis’s Vincent aéromodéliste, Gordes (lot 183), in Family Of Man, undoubtedly one of the most important photography exhibitions of the twentieth-century. Two years later, Ronis was awarded the Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale. Despite the heightened level of intimacy conveyed in the images such as Les adieux du permissionaire (lot 189), and Les amoureaux de la Bastille, Paris (lot 190), Ronis often captured the fleeting moments from afar, thereby respecting his subjects’ privacy and ensuring that the spontaneous charm would not be compromised or eclipsed by potential self-consciousness. For being so seemingly close and so characteristically familiar, Ronis’s images became tangible in literal and figurative ways alike. That is, the scenes seem to be within reach as physical spaces as much as romanticized and endearing clichés, appearing immediately familiar without ever having been personally experienced by the viewers. Put more simply, one could call it photographic déjà vu. In some ways, it could be argued that in his search for the quintessentially French idiosyncrasies, Ronis was a reincarnation of Baudelaire’s 19th-century flâneur, the gentleman roaming the Parisian streets, absorbing the understated appeal in ordinary settings. The flâneur would seldom interact with others, but was in a continuous search of the social settings that reflected the city’s demographic and spirit. In that regard, Ronis’s stumbling into casual scenes embodying the Parisian lifestyle is a direct continuation of the practice initiated almost a century earlier by the first wave of flâneurs, namely, August Renoire, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas It was not gratuitous and selfish voyeurism, therefore, that propelled Ronis to record the city’s essential characters, but the wish to share and celebrate the love for the city
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA Willy Ronis 'Le Bidule', rue de la Huchette, Paris 1957 Gelatin silver print, printed 2001. 12 3/8 x 17 1/2 in. (31.4 x 44.5 cm). Signed in ink in the margin; initialed, annotated 'tirage 2001' in ink, titled 'Café Le Bidule', dated in pencil and copyright credit stamp on the verso.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Literature Taschen, Willy Ronis p. 54 Catalogue Essay WILLY RONIS CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF JOIE-DE-VIVRE Perhaps we have an invincible resistance to believing in the past, in History, except, in the form of myth. The Photograph, for the first time, puts an end to this resistance: henceforth the past is as certain as the present, what we see on paper is as certain as what we touch. Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida Celebrated for his classic black and white photographs of France, Willy Ronis’s images typify the exuberant vitality of French culture in the mid-20th century. Like his contemporaries, Ronis documented the unexpected moments, where observation and chance resulted in snapshots that highlight the understated elegance of everyday life. Born in 1910 to a Parisian household, Ronis first gained exposure to photography as a young apprentice at his father’s portrait studio. In the 1930’s, Ronis took on assignments as a photojournalist, pairing the technical skills he had learned at the studio with his ardent studying of the avant-garde styles showing in various galleries and bookshops across Paris. His works were published in weekly publications, and soon Ronis was represented by Rapho agency, joining luminaries such as Brassaï and Robert Doisneau Lauded for his work, Ronis was awarded the Prix Kodak in 1947. Shortly thereafter, from 1948-1950, Ronis became the first French photographer to work for LIFE magazine, a period that he has once characterized as "the Golden Age," and which provided him with his first international platform. The exposure to the international community grew significantly when Edward Steichen then Director of the Photographs Department at the Museum of Modern Art, invited Ronis in 1953 to participate in the MoMA show Five French Photographers, along with Izis, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ronis’s two Rapho agency comrades— Brassaï and Doisneau. The same year, Steichen also published a portfolio featuring Ronis’s work in US Camera Annual. Moreover, so enthused was the famed American photographer and curator by his French counterpart’s work, that in 1955 he included Ronis’s Vincent aéromodéliste, Gordes (lot 183), in Family Of Man, undoubtedly one of the most important photography exhibitions of the twentieth-century. Two years later, Ronis was awarded the Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale. Despite the heightened level of intimacy conveyed in the images such as Les adieux du permissionaire (lot 189), and Les amoureaux de la Bastille, Paris (lot 190), Ronis often captured the fleeting moments from afar, thereby respecting his subjects’ privacy and ensuring that the spontaneous charm would not be compromised or eclipsed by potential self-consciousness. For being so seemingly close and so characteristically familiar, Ronis’s images became tangible in literal and figurative ways alike. That is, the scenes seem to be within reach as physical spaces as much as romanticized and endearing clichés, appearing immediately familiar without ever having been personally experienced by the viewers. Put more simply, one could call it photographic déjà vu. In some ways, it could be argued that in his search for the quintessentially French idiosyncrasies, Ronis was a reincarnation of Baudelaire’s 19th-century flâneur, the gentleman roaming the Parisian streets, absorbing the understated appeal in ordinary settings. The flâneur would seldom interact with others, but was in a continuous search of the social settings that reflected the city’s demographic and spirit. In that regard, Ronis’s stumbling into casual scenes embodying the Parisian lifestyle is a direct continuation of the practice initiated almost a century earlier by the first wave of flâneurs, namely, August Renoire, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas It was not gratuitous and selfish voyeurism, therefore, that propelled Ronis to record the city’s essential characters, but the wish to share and celebrate the love for the city
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