Reflections is a celebration of the life and work of Swiss-French photographer Sabine Weiss (1924-2021). Weiss, who died in December 2021, was a key figure in France’s post-war photographic landscape. Her approach aligned with the mid-20th century’s Humanist vision of photography, in which she and others sought to document the new realities of everyday life, drawing out the spontaneous poetry of human experience. She was at home in the street, day and night – encountering her subjects with compassion, and creating a visual rapport that still resonates today.
Born in Switzerland in 1924, Weiss began working in photography at 18, when she took up an apprenticeship with the famed Boissonnas Studio in Geneva. The end of World War II coincided with her first published photo story at 21, and a move to Paris. Weiss’s images of her adopted city would go on to become emblematic of Paris’s post-war years – a man running joyously through a cobbled street into the light, a shadowy evening reflection in a glowing rain puddle, children playing amongst the derelict buildings in her home neighbourhood of Porte de Saint-Cloud.
Weiss was widely regarded as the last remaining representative of the Humanist photographic tradition, although she referred to herself as an ‘artisan’. Her skill in coaxing out the beauty of small moments, whether engaging with a group of mischievous children or capturing an anonymous silhouette through a rain-soaked window, is reflected in this selection from her archive – a celebration of Weiss’s chance encounters, or her “reminders of our brief lives.”
“I take photographs to hold on to the ephemeral, capture chance, keep an image of something that will disappear, gestures, attitudes, objects that are reminders of our brief lives.” - Sabine Weiss
Silver gelatin prints available to purchase from £3,600 + VAT. Any profits made from print sales supports The Photographers' Gallery's public programme.