In a short, dazzling and prolific career, Gilles Caron (1939-1970) became an icon of photojournalism. Yet while his photographs are remembered and are part of our heritage, the man himself has been almost forgotten since his death.
Created by the photographer’s family, the Fondation Gilles Caron aims to bring greater recognition to the man himself and to keep his work as an artist alive.
The first book produced by the Foundation, Gilles Caron – Scrapbook (Lienart editions, available in bookshops since February 2012), reveals both the man and the talented photographer through photographs, press coverage, contact sheets and archive documents. “His career as a photographer was that of a press agency journalist of the late 1960s: ministerial meetings, a premiere at the Bobino theatre, demonstrations and wars,” writes Marianne Caron-Montély. By turns a photographer of stars and a great political reporter, Gilles Caron depicted a whole era, from the Six-Day War to May 1968, and including the terrible situation in Biafra, and war in Ireland and Vietnam.
Gilles Caron – Scrapbook (pages 122 and 123), Lienart editions
As a great lover of photography, Dr Nicole Bru, who has accompanied the Fondation Gilles Caron since its first symposium in 2009, wished to take part in the adventure this book represents, in reviving the photographer’s life and works. For this Scrapbook is indeed a fine tribute to one man’s talent, audacity and courage.
Gilles Caron – Scrapbook (pages 174 and 175), Lienart editions