La photographie en France, des origines à nos jours

From Niépce’s first trials at Châlon-sur saône in 1826 until the aerial views by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, how can we define photographic creation in the country that invented photography? For once, it is neither a historian nor an art critic who answers but rather a photographer, Claude Nori, known for his portraits of Italian vacationers, also the founder of the Contrejour publishing house and the festival Terres d’images at Biarritz. In spite of a writing that is sometimes a little too quick («Guy Bourdin shatters into pieces universes that are often put into opposition: art photography and fashion photography» and, on the following page, «Jeanloup Sieff manages to shatter to pieces all genres»), the interest of this essay is the fact it is more a history of photographers than the history of photography, rendering it very easy to read. The major genres – reports, fashion, still lives, nudes, «new images», etc - are clearly grouped together and enhanced through the biographies of their main representatives.

• La photographie en France, des origines à nos jours, by Claude Nori, Flammarion 2008, 322 p., 45 €, ISBN : 978-2-0812-1467-5