Jean Mounicq, portraits

Renowned photographer, Jean Mounicq is still a reference today for his work on Paris and Venice. A friend of Sergio Larrain, he spent a short time at the Magnum agency at the end of the 1950s, before working for the women's press in particular SHE – and thus portray a whole generation of artists, writers, art dealers, women and statesmen, all at the height of their glory in the post-war years. Youth is not left out; Mounicq's images propel singers and composers, dancers and fashion designers, illustrators and designers, visual artists and concert performers, directors and actors, the new idols of the moment, to the forefront..

Portraits is therefore an extraordinary collection of faces from the Glorious Thirties. 

« The attention always on the alert, the eye is assured, the establishment of the structures of the image almost innate, the selection of the elements of the drastic decor. Consider the stage, its architecture, its openings, its constraints and its opportunities. Install the character in a space order, establish it in the soothing seat of a chosen countenance or let it go about its outbursts of the moment. Measure light transparency, backlighting, shadow areas and reflections by eye. Most often, trying to control the lighting for lack of organization. Consider the whole, identify the objects, remove the intruder, banish the futile, remove the pretty, scrutinize the relevant, choose the remarkable. Strike the right balance between the plans. In the flood of words, remarks and questions from the journalist, replies and objections from the writer, jokes from the painter, invitation to take up the tool of the sculptor, the guard is down. A relaxation of tensions, a distraction of the body, a reflux of attention, a breach in the application to appear.»

Excerpt from the text by Françoise Denoyelle,
photography historian

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172 pages
± 81 photographs
Cardboard and canvas cover
Size: 200 x 260mm
ISBN: 978-2-36510-109-7