Jacques-André Boiffard (29 July 1902 – 22 July 1961) was a French photographer, born in Épernon in

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

through Pierre Naville, a

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

writer, and childhood friend. In the mid-1920s, Boiffard decided to dedicate himself to research in the

Bureau of Surrealist Research The Bureau of Surrealist Research, also known as the Centrale Surréaliste or Bureau of Surrealist Enquiries, was a Paris-based office in which a loosely affiliated group of Surrealism, Surrealist writers and artists gathered to meet, hold discussi ...

, writing the preface with Paul Éluard and Roger Vitrac to the first issue of '' La Révolution surréaliste''. Preferring photography to literature, he served as

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

’s assistant from 1924 to 1929. During the 1920s, he took portraits of the English writer Nancy Cunard and photographs of Paris which Breton used to illustrate his novel '' Nadja''. In 1928, Boiffard was abruptly expelled from the movement for taking photographs of Simone Breton. He co-founded a studio, ''Studio unis'', with photographer Eli Lotar in 1929, although the studio went bankrupt in 1932. From 1929 onward, Boiffard was closely associated with

Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...

and the circle of writers involved in ''

Documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": ...

'', in which his best-known work was published, illustrating articles such as Bataille’s "The Big Toe" (1929, issue 6), Robert Desnos’ "Pygmalion and the Sphinx" (1930, issue 1), and Georges Limbour’s "Eschyle, the carnival and the civilized" (1930, issue 2). Boiffard's photographs often manipulate scale and point of view, transpose multiple exposures, and contrast brightly lit objects against darkened backgrounds. He also made several photograms. In 1930, he contributed to '' Un Cadavre'', a pamphlet that attacked Breton. During the political turmoil of the 1930s, Boiffard was a member of the Groupe Octobre led by

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the Poetic realism, poetic ...

, and he exhibited his work as part of the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires. He accompanied members of the Groupe October to Russia in 1933. Boiffard then set out on a world tour with fellow photographer Eli Lotar. Although partly financed by museologist Georges Henri Rivière and the Vicomte de Noailles the trip came to an early end in Tangiers. Following his return to Paris, Boiffard exhibited photographs from his travel in 1934 at the Galerie de la Pléiade. Following his father's death in 1935 Boiffard resumed his studies to earn a doctorate in medicine in 1940 specializing in radiology, once and for all putting an end to his career as a photographer. He served as a radiologist at the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris from 1940 to 1959. He died in Paris in 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boiffard, Jacques-Andre 1902 births 1961 deaths People from Eure-et-Loir French surrealist artists French photographers