Willy Ronis

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Willy Ronis, January 2002

Willy Ronis [ wiˈli ʀɔˈnis ] (born August 14, 1910 in Paris ; † September 12, 2009 there ) was a multiple award-winning French photographer . Ronis counts with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau to the French school of photographic humanism .

life and work

Father Emmanuel Ronis worked as a studio photographer and came from Odessa . His mother Ida Gluckmann came from Lithuania and worked as a pianist and piano teacher. Both parents were Jewish immigrants. Ronis actually wanted to become a composer , but after his military service in 1932 he had to help out in his father's photo studio on Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris to support his father, who was suffering from cancer . When his father died in July 1936, he sold the shop and moved away. Ronis began his photographic career with social reporting and published his first pictures in 1936 in the communist magazine regards . He documented the demonstration of the French Popular Front on July 14, 1936, France's national holiday .

Even before the war he turned to “normal life on the street” in Paris in his photographic work. Ronis did not arrange the people in his pictures, but left the composition to chance. His friend and colleague Doisneau admired Ronis' recordings for the fact that he had always waited for the "right" moment with them. In July 1941, he fled to the unoccupied zone in southern France . There he met his wife, the painter Marie-Anne Lansiaux, and married her after the war. With her he had adopted the son Vincent.

Willy Ronis and his wife in front of their house in the Passage des Charbonniers in the 15th arrondissement (Paris) , 1946

In 1946 he joined the photo agency Rapho and became a member of the communist photography association Groupe des XV . He was the first French photographer to work for the photo magazine Life . In the 1960s he fell out with the Rapho agency and several newspapers, as they repeatedly cropped and commented on his photos in a meaningless way. He quit Rapho and instead took on jobs in the advertising industry. After the crackdown on the Prague Spring in 1968, he left the PCF , but remained true to his ideals.

In 1972 he and his wife retired from Paris to the house they had previously lived in in Gordes, Provencal . The marriage suffered from loss of income and the couple drifted apart. In the 1970s and 1980s he taught at the École municipale des beaux-arts et d'architecture in Avignon , then at the faculties of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille (Saint-Charles), where he set up a course in the history of photography . He experienced a return and late recognition from the public in 1980 with the photo book Sur le fil du hasard (= On the trail of chance), in which he showed photographs that had not yet been printed. In 1983 he bequeathed his photographic legacy to the French state, which in turn financed an apartment for him in Paris. His wife stayed in the south of France and later went to a state retirement home for artists in Nogent-sur-Marne , a former château . His son Vincent Kaldor died in an accident with a hang glider in 1988 .

The city of Paris dedicated a retrospective to him from October 19, 2005 to May 27, 2006, which could be seen free of charge in the Paris City Hall . The exhibition on the theme of Paris attracted more than 500,000 visitors. In 2004 and 2005 there was a traveling exhibition in Germany on the work of Willy Ronis with the title La vie - en passant . 

Belvédère Willy Ronis with a view of Paris

In the upper part of the park of Belleville ( 20th arrondissement of Paris ) the Belvédère Willy Ronis was named in his honor on September 16, 2015 by the Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo , a viewing point with a view of Paris, covered by a high open-air pavilion with three barrel vaults . From 1988 to 2014, the Maison de l'Air was located below the roof terrace , where school classes were informed about the air and its pollution via interactive computer terminals.

After 73 years of work, Ronis stopped taking photos for health reasons at the age of 91. Willy Ronis died at the age of 99 on September 12, 2009 in the 20th arrondissement, where he had spent the last years of his life.

Awards (selection)

Exhibitions (selection)

  • Willy Ronis à Paris. Hôtel de Ville , Paris, October 19, 2005 - May 27, 2006.
  • Willy Ronis, retrospective. Rencontres d'Arles , Arles, 7 July 2009 - 13 September 2009.
  • Willy Ronis, une poétique de l'engagement. National Gallery of Jeu de Paume , Paris, April 16, 2010 - August 22, 2010.
  • Willy Ronis. A retrospective. Art Museum Picasso Münster, May 4, 2013 - September 1, 2013.
  • 1936, le Front populaire en photographie. Hôtel de Ville, Paris, May 19, 2016 - July 23, 2016, (participation).

Publications (selection)

literature

Movies

  • Willy Ronis - Parisian photographer and humanist. (OT: Willy Ronis, les combats d'un photographe. ) Documentary, France, 2020, 53:07 min., Book: Gabrielle de la Selle, Vladimir Vasak, director: Vladimir Vasak, production: arte France, Day for Night, First broadcast: July 5, 2020 on arte, table of contents by ARD , online video available until September 2, 2020.
  • Belleville, the Paris of the little people by Willy Ronis. (OT: Belleville, le Paris populaire de Willy Ronis. ) Documentary, France, 2019, 13:00 min., Script and director: Julie Delettre, production: arte France, series: Stadt Land Kunst (OT: Invitation au voyage ), First broadcast: January 11, 2019 at arte, online video and table of contents available until January 11, 2021.
  • Willy Ronis' view of Provence. (OT: La Provence dans les yeux de Willy Ronis. Alternative title: Willy Ronis met à nu la Provence. ) Documentary, France, 2018, 12:37 min., Written and directed: NN , production: arte France, series: Stadt Land Art , first broadcast: June 26, 2018, synopsis by fernsehserien.de , preview, 1:26 min. , (French)

Web links

Commons : Willy Ronis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

photos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Obituary: Willy Ronis (1910–2009), photographe humaniste. In: aufeminin.com , May 17, 2010.
  2. ^ A b Samuel Laurent: Willy Ronis, mort d'un géant de la photographie. In: Le Figaro , September 12, 2009.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Documentary: Willy Ronis - Parisian photographer and humanist. In: arte , July 5, 2020.
  4. ↑ a b c Direction de l'Urbanisme Sous Direction de l'Action Foncière: Projet de deliberation. Exposé des motifs. [Draft advice. Explanation.] In: La Maire de Paris [The Mayoress of Paris], around March 2015, accessed on July 17, 2020, (PDF; 87 kB).
  5. ↑ Amanda Hopkinson: Willy Ronis obituary. French photographer whose poetic images captured daily life in Paris and Provence. In: The Guardian , September 16, 2009.
  6. ↑ La Maison nationale des artistes: une maison de retraite historique. In: lamaisondesartistes.fr , September 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ Armelle Canitrot: Décès de Willy Ronis, "photographe de l'humain". In: La Croix , September 13, 2009.
  8. ^ A b Exhibition: Willy Ronis à Paris. ( Memento from May 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Le Figaro , October 2005.
  9. ^ Exhibition: Willy Ronis: La vie - en passant. ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum , Aachen, August 21 - November 7, 2004.
  10. ^ Exhibition: La vie en passant. ( Memento from September 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). In: State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg , June 19 to September 4, 2005.
  11. ↑ Elus PS Paris 20e [= Member of the PS in the 20th district of Paris]: Inauguration du belvedere willy Ronis avec @Anne_Hidalgo. In: Twitter , September 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ Arye Guery: Photos marché des créateurs du belvédère Willy Ronis. In: oerine.com , June 1, 2017, accessed on July 14, 2020.
  13. ↑ Maison de l'Air et de l'Environnement. In: Facebook , June 2014.
  14. ^ Parc de Belleville. ( Memento of July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). In: City of Paris (Mairie), 2009.
  15. ↑ Dorothea Hahn: “Paris will be a city of rich people.” In: taz , December 31, 2005, conversation with Willy Ronis.
  16. ^ Claire Guillot: Disparitions. Le photographe Willy Ronis est mort. In: Le Monde , September 12, 2009.
  17. ^ Biography of Willy Ronis. In: whoswho.fr , accessed on July 14, 2020.
  18. ↑ Ronis, Willy. In: Médiathèque des Rencontres d'Arles , with pictures from the exhibition, audio files, films, accessed on July 18, 2020.
  19. ↑ Exposition: Willy Ronis, une poétique de l'engagement, 16 avril - 22 août 2010. In: Jeu de Paume , 2010, (French), (PDF; 1.76 MB).
  20. ^ Exhibition: Willy Ronis. A retrospective, May 4 - September 1, 2013. In: Kunstmuseum Picasso Münster , accessed on July 14, 2020.
  21. ↑ Le Front popular à l'honneur à Hôtel de Ville de Paris. In: Le Parisien , May 17, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Ronis, Willy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 2009
Place of death Paris