Death of photographer Sabine Weiss

The Swiss-born photographer, Sabine Weiss, the last disciple of the humanist school, died Tuesday in Paris, at the age of 97.

Franco-Swiss photographer Sabine Weiss died Tuesday at her home in Paris at the age of 97, her family and team announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Born in Switzerland in 1924 and naturalized French, Sabine Weiss, the last disciple of the French humanist school, lived in Paris where she had set up her studio on boulevard Murat since 1949.

"A good photo must touch"

Rare woman in a very masculine profession, she thus evoked her position "There are handicaps, to be a woman from time to time, first of all, there is often a lot to bear. And for example, in reporting, when I work on topical subjects and there are many other photographers, they always say to me 'come on my little grandma, put yourself aside let the photographers!'"

Sabine Weiss liked to capture the "brat", the "beggars" and the "little sly people" crossed in the street: this photographer, mischievous and rigorous, also known for her fashion photos published in Vogue was the last disciple of the French school humanist. Like Doisneau, Boubat, Willy Ronis or even Izis, Sabine Weiss has immortalized the simple life of people, without however claiming any influence.

Winner of the 2020 Women in Motion in Photography Award, Sabine Weiss has been the subject of some 160 exhibitions around the world.

Pioneer of post-war photography, this outstanding technician, with an eclectic career, in color as in black and white, was born in Switzerland before being naturalized French in 1995.

fleeting moments

A discreet personality and less known to the general public than other photographers of her time, this sparkling woman of 1m55 who denied having suffered from any "segregation" as a woman, wanted to establish "a constant dialogue" with her subject, considering photography as "a friendship".

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"People who know me are those who like my look," she said on France Inter. I am compassionate."

Post-war Paris launched his career. There, around the 1950s, she roamed the capital, often at night, with her husband, the American painter Hugh Weiss (the couple would adopt a daughter) to freeze fleeting moments: workers in action, furtive kisses, comings and goings in the metro entrances. "The capital, at the time, was bathed at night, in beautiful fogs".

In these shots, children are very present, like this radiant little Egyptian immortalized in the boot. "It's a challenge, you have to go fast and I never wait!".

In what she called "my images of brats", she hangs the smiles, the games or the antics of filthy faces with torn clothes. "It's fun to play with street children", she said, with the desire to have been the witness of her time and to denounce injustices.

Born Weber on July 23, 1924 in Saint-Gingolph on the shores of Lake Geneva, Sabine Weiss acquired her first camera at the age of 12 with her pocket money. Not at school, she learned the trade at the age of 16 in a famous Geneva studio.

Arriving in Paris in 1946, she worked for fashion photographer Willy Maywald. The year of her marriage, in 1950, she opened her studio in the 16th arrondissement while Doisneau introduced her to Vogue and to the Rapho agency (now Gamma-Rapho).

"Photograph People"

She frequents artistic circles, makes portraits of Stravinsky, Britten, Dubuffet, Léger or Giacometti. She will work, and succeed, in several registers: reportage (she travels a lot), advertising, fashion, entertainment, architecture.

Preferring in all things sobriety to "very dazzling things", she responds to orders from major magazines (Newsweek, Time, Life, Esquire, Paris-Match etc).

Prolific and generous, Sabine Weiss bequeathed 200,000 negatives and 7,000 contact sheets to the Musée de l'Élysée in Lausanne in 2017. "I don't know how many photos I took, she told AFP in 2014, anyway, that doesn't mean much".

During this same interview, she marveled - without nostalgia - at the digital revolution: "it's great, it's sharp, the exposure time, the lenses are wonderful".

Currently, "people do not photograph so much around them, but rather themselves", she noted with AFP in 2020, in reference to selfies.

For her, these are all the traces of life that should be preserved over time. "You have to tell people: photograph, photograph the people, the things around you. Say it!"