An unknown photographer .
Germaine Chaumel (1895-1982) is one of the best representatives of the “new vision” which developed between the wars, although she never had the chance to practice her art in what was then the world capital of photography: Paris. When comparing her photographs with those of her more famous contemporaries (Yvonne Chevalier, Ergy Landau, Nora Dumas, Denise Bellon, Laure Albin Guillot) the quality and modernity of her work is apparent.

Self-taught, Chaumel trained herself by studying Man Ray and Brassaï. It became her full-time profession in 1936. Soon she was taking portraits in the studio of her apartment, and filing reports for French and international newspapers like The New York Times.

Armed with her Rolleiflex, she tried her hand at every form of photography: streets scenes, advertising (on the advice of Sougez), still lifes, nudes, fashion and cityscapes.

She covered the most import events of this troubled era in France: the great strikes of 1937, the exiled Spanish republicans, the arrival of refugees in 1940, Marshal Pétain in Toulouse and the city’s liberation, and the arrival of General de Gaulle.

In Toulouse she photographed some the most famous artists of the time, and even worked as a sports photographer. Like Willy Ronis in the capital, Germaine Chaumel walked the streets of Toulouse with a Rolleiflex around her neck, ready to capture whatever came her way.

Germaine Chaumel (1895-1982) - Profession photographe
From November 20th 2012 to February 24th 2013
Espace EDF Bazacle
11, quai Saint-Pierre
31000 Toulouse
France
T : + 33 (0)5 62 30 16 00
Free Entrance.
Tuesday - Sunday 11am - 6pm