Harvey Johnson, 3/2/2013 - Artist Post: Willy Ronis

Willy Ronis

Willy Ronis was born in Paris on August 14, 1910 and lived there with his wife until he passed September 12, 2009. He became a full-time photographer in 1945, influenced by his father, a photographer and Alfred Stieglitz among others. He was the first French photographer to work for LIFE Magazine and his art was exhibited by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in 1953 in a show called Four French Photographers. Included in these works were “Carrefour Sevres” and “The Albertine Code”. Ronis’ wife, a Communist militant painter, Marie-Anne Lansiaux was the model of his well-known 1936 photograph “Le Nu Provencal” (Provencal nude). All of Mr. Ronis’s pictures were captured in black and white