Janine Niépce (February 12, 1921 – August 5, 2007) was a
French photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs.
Duties and types of photograp ...
and
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. Her career spanned developing films for the
French Resistance
The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
to covering the
women's liberation movement
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
in the 1970s.
Biography
Janine Niépce was born February 12, 1921, in
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
, France. She is a distant relative of
Nicéphore Niépce
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (; 7 March 1765 – 5 July 1833) was a French inventor and one of the earliest History of photography, pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving ...
, the pioneer of photography.
In 1944, she graduated from the
Sorbonne.
She was a liaison officer involved with the liberation of Paris after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1946 she became a professional photographer.
She and the Swiss-French
Sabine Weiss, a near contemporary, worked as the only women photojournalists at
Rapho amongst
Robert Doisneau
Robert Doisneau (; 14 April 1912 – 1 April 1994) was a French photographer. From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris. He was a champion of humanist photography and, with Henri Cartier-Bresson, a pioneer of photojournalism.
D ...
,
Édouard Boubat,
Denis Brihat,
Jean Dieuzaide,
[Robin Lenman, "Rapho"; in ''The Oxford Companion to the Photograph,'' ed. Robin Lenman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; ).] Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt (born Hermann Wilhelm Brandt ; 2 May 1904 – 20 December 1983)Paul DelanyBill Brandt: A Life was a British photographer and photojournalism, photojournalist. Born in Germany, Brandt moved to England, where he became known for his ...
,
Ken Heyman,
Izis,
André Kertész
André Kertész (; 2 July 1894 – 28 September 1985), born Andor Kertész (), was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition (visual arts), composition and the photo essay. In the earl ...
,
Yousuf Karsh
Yousuf Karsh FRPS (December23, 1908July13, 2002) was an Armenian–Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.
An Armenian ge ...
,
Jacques Henri Lartigue,
Willy Ronis,
Emile Savitry,
Fouad Elkoury. She was influenced by
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...
.
In the 1970s, her work focused particularly on the women's liberation movement.
In 1981 Niépce was named
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
The 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 the recognition of significant ...
. In 1985 she became a Knight of the
Legion d'Honor.
She died August 5, 2007.
Publications
Janine Niépce has published at least 20 books of photographs, the most recent ones are:
*''Niépce Duras'' (Éditions Actes Sud, 1992)
*''Les années femmes'' (Éditions de la Martinière, 1993)
*''Mes années campagne'' (Éditions de la Martinière, 1994)
*''Images d’une vie'' (Éditions de la Martinière, 1995)
*''Les vendanges'' (Éditions Hoëbeke, 2000)
*''Françaises, Français, le goût de vivre'' (Éditions Imprimerie Nationale Actes Sud, 2005)
Exhibitions
* 2003 Debelleyme Gallery, exhibition sale of signed prints
* 2004 Sale at the exhibition gallery Artcurial during the Mois de la Photo
* 2006 Exhibition, "Douce France" at the Museum of Auxerre.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
images by Janine Niépceon LiveJournal.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niepce, Janine
1921 births
2007 deaths
University of Paris alumni
20th-century French women photographers
20th-century French photographers