The French Photography Museum Association of Bièvre announced the death of André Fage, on April 16, 2012, in his 85th year, 21 years after that of his father who was born in Budapest in 1905. The funeral was held on Wednesday, April 18, in the Bièvres Church.

Co-founder with his father, Jean Fage, of the Musée Français de la Photographie 
and of the Bièvres Photo Fair, he did not have the privilege, despite his relentless battle, of seeing the construction of a museum capable of housing the collections he and his father had gathered post-war including cameras, prints, negatives, plates and a unique library of documentary archives. It all began in 1949 with the creation of the Photoclub of the Val de Bièvre followed by the Photo Fair whose next edition will take place on June 2-3.

In the early 1960’s, the city hall of Bièvre provided them with a small location and on February 10, 1964, the French Photography Museum Association was officially created to run, protect, develop, and highlight the collections. In June, 1974, the French Photography Museum was inaugurated at 78 rue de Paris in Bièvres. André Fage ran the museum and its collections until his retirement in 1995.

In 1986, Jean Fage, then President of the French Photography Museum of Bièvres, donated his collections to the Conseil Général de l’Essonne under the dual condition that the collection remain in Bièvre and that a new Photography Museum be built.

Today, after the death of André Fage, and without an heir, the French Photography Museum Association of Bièvres is legally bound to respect the conditions of the 1986 donation.

In his homage to André Fage, Joël Conan, the current President, assured that “he must now succeed in building a new museum in Bièvres as it was agreed in 1986.”

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr