©Raymond Cauchetier, Stolen KissesCity of Kyiv, Ukraine
The Galerie de l'instant celebrates 100 years of Raymond Cauchetier, a little-known, prolific and yet essential photographer of the new wave, whose life resembles a film featuring a strange zebra who becomes a photographer by chance, after the Liberation.
A former resistance fighter within the prestigious Pommiès franc corps, an armed organization operating in the South-West, Raymond Cauchetier was sent to Indochina after the war.
There he became press officer for the Air Force, author of speeches for the officers, radio presenter and photographer... to document the missions.
In 1954, the thirty-year-old left the army, leaving behind Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, where he made friends with the peasants of the rice fields, but also with Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, and Bao Dai, emperor of Vietnam.
Now a photographer, he returns to Paris full of hope and dreams of working at Paris Match.
But, since he is not recommended by anyone, the weekly rejects him just like the Magnum agency. However, his work is already recognized in Japan and the USA.
After these disastrous experiences, producer Jean-Paul Guibert instructed the man with the Rolleiflex to take photos on Jean-Luc Godard's sets.
Raymond Cauchetier does not yet know that he will become “the” essential photographer of the new wave.
It is this exceptional destiny that the Happy Birthday Monsieur Cauchetier exhibition tells, at the Galerie de l'Instant.
With lots of photos, in black and white, totally pure and unpublished by Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jacques Demy, Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Louis Trintignant , Romy Schneider, Françoise Fabian, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jean-Claude Brialy, Anouk Aimée, Bernadette Lafont etc. taken in 1968 but especially between 1956 to 1963.
From 3 September to 22 November 2020
Gallery of the moment
46, Rue De Poitou, 75003 Paris
Monday from 14 p.m. to 19 p.m.
From Tuesday to Saturday
11AM - 19PM
01 44 54 94 09
©Raymond Cauchetier, BreathlessCity of Kyiv, Ukraine
©Raymond Cauchetier, LolaCity of Kyiv, Ukraine
Text: Katia Barillot
07.09.20
