René-Jacques

René-Jacques was a renowned French photographer born in Cambodia in 1908. This savant photographer paired a meticulous style with full technical mastery. He contributed to photography’s destiny to become a major means of expression. As an activist, he joined the “Rectangle" group in 1941 and five years later co-founded the “Groupe des XV”, a photography collective including Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis and Pierre Jahan. René-Jacques considered man and technology and nature and civilisation with some restraint.


For forty years, he fulfilled a wealth of orders, took architectural shots and did still photography, among other things. He also took photographs for literary works, including Envoûtements de Paris by Carco (1938), La mer est un pays secret by Peisson (1948) and Montherlant’s Les Olympiques (1948). At the end of the war, he presented his publications and work documenting life in urban and rural France. His shots of Paris became symbolic of the era. René-Jacques photographed many of Rodin’s works. In the same vein, his art is based on a balance between science and patience.