WILLY RONIS 1910-2009 - Lot 51

WILLY RONIS 1910-2009 La péniche aux enfants, Paris, 1959. Photograph. Silver print 1985, signed in ink under the image, titled and dated in pencil and stamped by the author on the back. Image: 33 x 23 cm; sheet: 40.5 x 30.5 cm Bibliography: Willy Ronis "Sur le fil du hasard", Éd. Contrejour, Paris, 1980, p. 159. J-C Gautrand "Willy Ronis", Éd. Taschen, Cologne, 2005, p.9. "Of all the photographs very close to my heart, this one, "La péniche aux enfants", has the special status of uniqueness. It would take too long to retrace, in the context of these notes, the history of the contact sheet, of which it is the penultimate image. I've started to write it up, although I'm not sure I'll be able to analyze what this adventure meant to me that day, or how deeply it affected me. I can only say that I seized this totally unexpected scene at the very moment when it was about to escape me; that not only its content but also its form fill me with wonder; and that I have never trembled so much when, having finished developing the film and fixing it, I scrutinized the negative close to the frosted glass of the examination lantern. It was this photograph that was my own revelation, that suddenly challenged me completely, that at the same time made me understand - beyond my ordinary work - the deeper meaning of what I'm still pursuing. It's what held me back several times when I was on the verge of giving up." Willy Ronis