Léon Herschtritt

Léon Herschtritt (4 May 1936 – 21 November 2020) was a French humanist photographer. He won the Niépce Prize as a young photographer in 1960.

Early life and education Born in Paris 4 May 1936, Herschtritt was imprisoned as a child at the Drancy internment camp during World War II and the German occupation. His family escaped deportation due to his father's British nationality. Undertook his secondary education at the Lycée Voltaire. At fifteen he used his father's Leica to photograph chateaux in the Loire. From 1954 he spent six months at the Vaugirard School, Paris, before studying at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie.

He was mobilized into the Air Force for the Algerian War in 1957–9 before touring other parts of Africa, as photography detaché for Education Nationale, and exhibited at the Maison des Beaux-Arts in Paris, for which he won the Niépce Prize that same year. He became active throughout the 1960s, a freelancer having obtained his press card in 1962, and were exhibited at the Musée de l'Homme before circulating across France and internationally.

While in Paris, Herschtritt worked as a reporter-photographer for L'Obs, La Vie, and Réalités before becoming a freelance photographer and Paris correspondent for Camera Press agency in London 1964-71 which distributes his photos of Africa to over 50 countries. He produced publications on a number of subjects; Israel (1962), Berlin Wall (1963), Women (1960/1974), Gypsies (1966), Lovers of Paris (1960/1965), Politics (1960/1970), Gamins of Paris (1960/1965).

In 1966, at 30 years of age, he was awarded the Gens d’Images for his books Au hasard des femmes, and on prostitution, La célébration des putains, and was profiled in a television program Chambre Noir hosted by Albert Plécy (founder of Gens d’Images) and Michel Tournier. The following year his work was selected for the survey show Tendance de la jeune photographie française at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. He was a member of the Paris photo club Les 30 x 40, and there exhibited his photographs of the demonstrations of May 1968. His work appeared in Karl Pawek's 1968 second World Exhibition of Photography, devoted to women, and his solo exhibition was shown at FNAC. That year, he was photographer on an advertisement campaign for Olivetti in France, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium. The following year he travelled to Florida to launch his solo show at the Foosaner Art Museum.

Léon Herschtritt died in Paris on 21 November 2020 at the age of 84.

Selected exhibitions 1960 Les Gosses d'Algerie Maison des Beaux-Arts, Paris (solo) 1960 Les Amoureux de Paris, Studio 28, Paris (solo) 1961 Salon international du portrait photographique, Bibliothèque nationale, Galeries Mazarine et Mansart (group) 1963 Afrique Musee de !'Homme, Paris (group) 1967 Tendance de la Jeune Photographie, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (group) 1968 L'Homme et la Machine, FNAC, Paris (solo) 1968 Mai 68, Maison de la Culture Mouffetard, Paris (group) 1968 2nd World Exhibition of Photography (group) 1968 PARIS, MAI 68, Club des 30x40, Paris (group) 1983 Musee de la Photo, Vienne, France (solo) 2008, 18 Nov – 28 Nov, Nie zweimal derselbe Blick - Berlin 1961, Galerie im Parlament/Abgeordnetenhaus Be, DE (solo) 2008, 3 Nov – 30 Nov, Nie zweimal derselbe Blick - Paris 60’s, Institut Francais, DE (solo) 2008, 18 Dec 2008 – 7 Feb 2009, Portraits d'artistes: les grandes figures du XXe siècle devant l'objectif, with Eve Arnold, Robert Doisneau, Gilles Ehrmann, Gisèle Freund, Ara Güler, Mark Lacroix, Inge Morath, Marc Riboud, Willy Ronis, André Villers, Reinhart Wolf, & others, Galerie Verdeau, FR (group) 2009, 30 Apr – 1 Jun, Léon Herschtritt, Monographie, Pavillon sud de la caserne de Bonne, FR (solo) 2009, 30 Apr – 1 Jun, Léon Herschtritt, Monographie, Ancien Musée de Peinture, FR (solo) 2009, 8 Jun – 27 Jun, Le Mur, Berlin 1961, institut français, DE (solo) 7 Jul – 13 Sep 2009, Rencontres d'Arles, FR (group) 2009, 7 Nov – 12 Dec, Berlin, Le mur, Noël 1961, Galerie Seine 51, FR (solo) 2011, 10 Feb – 12 Mar, Léon Herschtritt Carte Blanche, Galerie Seine 51, FR (solo) 2013 Foosaner Art Museum, Florida, USA (solo) 2016, 18 Jun – 18 Sep, Léon Herschtritt, The end of an era, Musée Nicéphore, FR (solo) 2016, 6 Dec – 23 Dec, A life for photography!, Esther Woerdehoff, FR (solo) 2017, 27 Mar – 25 Jun, Les Amoureux de Paris, Galerie La Belle Juliette, FR (solo) 2017, 7 Oct – 3 Nov, Lebensszenen ll with Holger Biermann, Hannah Goldstein, Manfred Paul, Angelika Platen, Galerie Franzkowiak, DE (group) 2018, 3 Feb – 3 May, Amoureux, Galerie La Belle Juliette, FR (group)

Awards Niépce Prize (1960) Prix Gens d'Images (1966)

Publications Au hasard des femmes (1966) La célébration des putains, selon l’Ancien et le Nouveau Testament (1968) Portfolio de 10 photographies sur le thème du couple (1974) Jamais deux fois le même regard (1996) Die Mauer, Berlin 1961 (2009) Léon Herschtritt, photographies (2012)