France has decided to pay tribute to the American photographer Louis Stettner, born November 7, 1922, in Brooklyn, to an Austro-Hungarian family. However, his photography has been so integrated in France where he lives since 1947, that his photographs are considered a part of the famous post-war humanist trend in photography. One might even say that he photographed America, Spain, Mexico and Chile in the same spirit.

At the end of the year, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France will present a retrospective of his career. David Guiraud, the curator, decided to focus on Stettner’s masterpieces, showing vintage prints of his most well-known photographs. From the famous "Enfants d'Aubervilliers" (1947) and “Twin Towers” (1977), seen in the fog with a bird rushing toward them, to a 1954 portrait of Manhattan as seen from Brooklyn, we see his humanistic and poetic vision, shrouded in lights of which he alone knew the secret.

His membership in the Photo League during McCarthyism led him to condemn social injustices, selfishness, suffering, and freedoms under threat. He was drawn towards the wretched of the earth.

But his vision, and the quality of light in his pictures, he owed to street photography, of the long hours spent roaming the sidewalks of the cities and suburbs.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Louis Stettner - Les chefs d’œuvres
In part of Le Mois de la Photo
Until January 19th, 2013
Galerie David Guiraud
5, rue du Perche
75003 Paris - France
+33 (0)1 42 71 78 62
info@galerie-david-guiraud.com