Martine Franck

Born in Antwerp, Martine Franck emigrated to the United States as a child with her family on the outbreak of the Second World War. Introduced to fine art by her father, she went on to study history of art at the University of Madrid and the Ecole du Louvre, but turned to photography during a sabbatical to China. She was introduced to the rudiments of photography by her friend, the internationally renowned theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine. Franck has worked with Mnouchine for many years, photographing the rehearsals of the director's theatre company, Theatre du Soleil, and creating images noted for the purity and elegance of their composition. Franck became a member of the Vu photographic agency in Paris in 1970, and then was a co-founder of the Viva agency in 1972. Her themes were not those of the hard news photojournalist, but usually focused on those who live on the margins of society or in isolated communities. Her project on the isolation and indignity of old age showed the compassion and sensitivity that is evident in so much of Franck's portraiture. Her intimate portrayal of a small Gaelic-speaking community on Tory Island is marked by the feminine sensibility that distinguishes her work from much of the other work that is produced by the Magnum photographers. Alongside this are her charming images of children in Tibet, said to be reincarnations of Tibetan lamas, who enter monasteries at five-years-old to be trained as future leaders. She has made many images of them, capturing the exuberance and innocence in images of children leaping off walls, playing with each other, or posing unselfconsciously for the camera. Franck and her husband, Henri Cartier-Bresson led a life surrounded by artists and fellow photographers and Franck's portraits include images of her contemporaries, figures such as Paul Strand, Marc Chagall, Balthus and Seamus Heaney. A key member of a number of the great photographic agencies, and one of the first female photographers to gain international recognition in the field, Franck is a popular and influential photographer whose exhibitions include a major retrospective at the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie in Paris in 1998, and shows in London, New York and California. Her work has been published in "Life", "Le Monde", "The New York Times" and "Vogue", and she remains a prolific photographer, faithful to the classic reportage of the Magnum tradition and the Leica she has used for thirty-five years. This book is the best introduction to Franck's work, featuring 55 photographs from the entirety of her career and works from all her best-known projects, alongside an essay by a photography specialist and friend of Franck, Louise Baring, who assesses her importance in the history of photography and within the Magnum tradition. Each photograph is accompanied by a commentary which gives further insight into Franck's work, but also allows for casual browsing. Part of a group of 245x210 photography monographs that include titles on key figures in photography that range from Weegee to Joel Meyerowitz, Julia Margaret Cameron to Guy Bourdin and Alfred Stieglitz to Dorothea Lange, this is a key title for any photography specialist or enthusiast.