Gérard Rancinan is a French photographer whose work has appeared in publications such as ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...

'', and ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on '' L'Intransigeant ...

''.

Life and work

Gérard Rancinan started his career as an apprentice in the laboratory of the photo department of the

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

daily newspaper, '' Sud Ouest''. After three years as an apprentice, he became the youngest photojournalist in France at the age of 18, covering news around the region. When he was 21, he was sent to the newspaper's agency in Pau. Having been spotted by the newly founded press agency, Sygma, in 1973, Rancinan decided to sign a distribution contract with the firm. Five years later he became a Sygma staff photographer in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He covered current events - earthquakes in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

to political upheaval in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, war in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, riots in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; sporting events (

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, Football World Cups,

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

); movie shoots (''

Ran Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) * ...

'' by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

, '' Betty Blue'' by

Jean-Jacques Beineix Jean-Jacques Beineix (; 8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022) was a French film director best known for the films ''Diva'' and ''Betty Blue''. His work is regarded as a prime example of the ''cinéma du look'' film movement in France. Early life ...

, ''

The Last Emperor ''The Last Emperor'' ( it, L'ultimo imperatore) is a 1987 epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the final Emperor of China. It is directed by Bernardo Bertolucci from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Peploe, which was adapted ...

'' by

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

); show business, fashion and the cinema. He left Sygma in 1986 to set up his own agency, before once again becoming independent in 1989. His portraits of leading personalities ( Fidel Castro,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, François Mitterrand,

Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model, modelling for Dolce & Gabbana and Dior, before making a transition to Italian films and later American and French f ...

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, etc.) and his photographic "sagas" describing major societal developments have been published on the front pages of magazines ''

'', ''

'', '' Stern'', ''

''. Since 1984, Rancinan has also worked on a regular basis with ''

''. In his projects, he collaborates with writers, journalists, thinkers, sociologists, anthropologists and philosophers ( Caroline Gaudriault, Virginie Luc, Paul Virilio,

Francis Fukuyama Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, international relations scholar and writer. Fukuyama is known for his book ''The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992), which argue ...

etc.). In the 1990s, Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr produced Rancinan's exhibition ''Urban Jungle'' at the

Espace Cardin Espace may refer to: *ESPACE, a complexity class in computational complexity theory * Espace musique, a Canadian radio service * Espace 2, a Swiss radio station * Radio Espace, a French radio station *Espace Group, a French media company *Group Esp ...

in Paris in 2000. Rancinan's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums (

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art ( ca, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, , MACBA) is a contemporary art museum situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The museum opened to the publ ...

: "Portrait of Nathalie",

Triennale di Milano The Triennale di Milano is a design and art museum in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, which was designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was fi ...

: "Portraits of Cardinals", Palais de Tokyo Muséum, Paris: "Metamorphoses") "Trilogy of the Moderns",

Triennale The Triennale di Milano is a design and art museum in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, which was designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was fi ...

di Milano - Contemporary Art Museum, Italie.
Triennale di Milano. and is held in private contemporary art collections. At an auction at the Étude Million at the l'

Hôtel Drouot Hôtel Drouot is a large auction house in Paris, known for fine art, antiques, and antiquities. It consists of 16 halls hosting 70 independent auction firms, which operate under the umbrella grouping of Drouot. The firm's main location, called D ...

in 2008, his work sold at a price comparable with the upper echelons of French contemporary art photographers. His photograph, "Batman Girls", sold for a record price in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in May 2012 at the auction house, Philip de Pury. The sale of Rancinan's "The Feast of the Barbarians" by the Étude Pillon in Versailles on 18 May 2014 – achieved the highest price of any living French photographer.''

Beaux Arts Magazine ''Beaux Arts Magazine'' is a monthly French Art Magazine that was founded in 1983 . In May 2016, Beaux Arts Magazine was bought by Frédéric Jousset. History In 1994, ''Beaux Arts Magazine'' was completed by the Beaux Arts éditions entity. B ...

'' July 2014 Rancinan photographs his contemporaries and analyses the behaviours and beliefs characterizing modern societies. Rancinan's photographs are studied in schools in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

within the framework of the National Diploma (DNB) in the History of Art. On 7 January 2013

Laurent Fabius Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician serving as President of the Constitutional Council since 8 March 2016. A member of the Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 Mar ...

, the

French Minister of Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Qu ...

, invited Rancinan to display, in one of the rooms of the

Quai d'Orsay The Quai d'Orsay ( , ) is a quay in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is part of the left bank of the Seine opposite the Place de la Concorde. The Quai becomes the Quai Anatole-France east of the Palais Bourbon, and the Quai Branly west of t ...

his photograph "Batman Boys", promoting the work of contemporary French artists abroad.

Prizes and awards

*Rancinan has won four first prizes at the World Press Photo Awards, in 1983, 1986 and 1988 (twice). *"Picture of the Year International" in 2004 at the POY Awards - Missouri School of Journalism, US. *Rancinan was made

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 2006 by the then French Minister of Culture,

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres (born 13 March 1954 in Neuilly-sur-Seine), often known as RDDV, is a French politician, France's Minister of Culture from 2004 to 2007. He is a member of the UMP center-right party, and the grandson of Henri Donnedie ...

. He was made Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture,

Aurélie Filippetti Aurélie Filippetti ( ; born 17 June 1973) is a French politician and novelist. She served as French Minister of Culture and Communications from 2012 until 2014, first in the government of Jean-Marc Ayrault and then in the government of Manue ...

in January 2013.
Nomination dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres janvier 2013.

Most recent solo exhibitions

*June–July 2007: Trilogy of the Sacred Savage, Triennale Bovisa di Milano Museum, Italy *September 2008: The Photographer, Museum Palazzo Roma, Italy *October 2009: Metamorphoses, still lives and conversations, Galerie Brugier-Rigail, Paris *November–December 2009: Métamorphoses,

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

Museum of Contemporary Art, Paris *March–April 2011: Rancinan in Paris,

Opera Gallery Opera Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery presenting work by established and emerging artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Founded in Paris in 1994 by Gilles Dyan, Opera Gallery now has thirteen exhibition spaces in New York ...

London-Paris *September–October 2011 : Rancinan in London,

, London *October–November 2011: Hypotheses, Chapelle Saint-Sauveur, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France *November–December 2011: Rancinan in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, Opera Gallery Hong Kong *April–May 2012: Trilogy of the Moderns, Triennale di Milano Museum, Italy *May–June 2012: Wonderful World, The Future Tense, curated by Ed Barttlet, London *September–October 2012: Wonderful World, Galerie Valérie Bach, Royal Icerink, Brussels, Belgium *May–September 2013: Trilogy of the Moderns + Chaos, Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia * October–November 2013 : ''The Feast of Barbarrian'' -

Musée des arts et métiers The Musée des Arts et Métiers () (French for Museum of Arts and Crafts) is an industrial design museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the pr ...

- Paris * February–April 2014 : "Motopoetique"-MAC-

Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon The Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon is a museum devoted to contemporary art, located in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, in the Cité Internationale, next to the cinema, in front of the Parc de la Tête d'Or. It had over 42,000 visitors in 2007. ...

-Collective Exhibition-curator

Paul Ardenne Paul Ardenne (born 4 October 1956) is Professor of history at the University of Amiens, and is also an art critic and a curator in the field of contemporary art. He grew up in a family of farmers from Charente (for a while he, too, worked in fa ...

* April–June 2014 : "A Small Man in a Big World" - Avant Premiere - Galerie Valerie Bach - Brussels - Belgium * June- September 2014 : " Tupi or not Tupi" - " Salomé Détail" - collective Exhibition -

oscar Niemeyer Museum The Oscar Niemeyer Museum ( pt, Museu Oscar Niemeyer) is located in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in Brazil. It was inaugurated in 2002 with the name Novo Museu or New Museum. With the conclusion of remodeling and the constructi ...

- Curitiba - Brazil * June–September 2014 : " Festin de l'Art " - "The Big Supper" - collective Exhibition - Pinault collection - Dinard - France- curator Jean Jacques Aillagon

Films

*Sauvons l'amour, with

Gabrielle Lazur Gabrielle may refer to: * Gabrielle (given name), a French female given name derived from Gabriel Film and television * ''Gabrielle'' (1954 film), a Swedish film directed by Hasse Ekman * ''Gabrielle'' (2005 film), a French film directed by Pa ...

, Fred Carol, François Siener. Original music by Charlélie Couture, 1986 (11 minutes. 40 seconds, 35 mm). Fiction/Short Film. *Héritage - Voyage au Pays de l'Homme, TF1, 52 min, 1995. Documentary. *Trilogy of the Moderns - Behind The Scenes, documentary, making of, on the work of Gérard Rancinan and Caroline Gaudriault, 52 min. Directed by Vincent Tavernier with commentaries by

, art historian. French and English version, December 2012. Documentary.

Books

* ''Rois Sans Royaume'', Éditions Nathan Image, 1986 * ''Urban Jungle'', Éditions de La Martinière, 1999 * ''Rancinan Exploit'', Edition Federico Motta, Milan, 2004 * ''La Trilogie du Sacré Sauvage'', Edition Federico Motta, Milan, 2005 * ''The Photographer'', Edition Abrams, New York, 2008 * ''Le Photographe'', Éditions de La Martinière, 2008 * "Métamorphoses", conversations & natures mortes, Biro & Cohen éditeurs, 2009 (with the writer, Caroline Gaudriault) * "Hypothèses", Éditions Paradoxe, 2011 (with the writer, Caroline Gaudriault) * "Wonderful World", Éditions Paradoxe, 2012 (with the writer, Caroline Gaudriault) * "A small man in a big world", Editions Paradoxe, 2014 - with the writer Caroline Gaudriault and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rancinan, Gerard French photographers 20th-century photographers 21st-century photographers Movie stills photographers French photojournalists Living people 1953 births People from Talence Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres