Revoir Paris Photograph

Born in Paris after the Second World War, Kiki of Paris was initially interested in the social sciences before he turned to drawing and painting. A meeting in Montparnasse with the writer Henry Miller, who encouraged him to take up photography, was one of the decisive moments of his career. His first photographs were ethnographic documents, and were taken in Asia, Central Europe, Cuba, Jamaica and in particular, the United States - he lived in California and Nevada for a while. He then turned toward humanist photography, the leading exponents of which include Doisneau and Brassa, until he redefined the scope of his work in 1995.In 1996, on the advice of a Swiss collector from Zurich, a number of American investors bought his large format works. Kiki of Paris then had solo exhibitions in Nassau, Seattle, Paris, Tokyo, Luxembourg, plus several joint exhibitions. The series Un t vnitien [A Venetian summer] enjoyed great success everywhere, and was followed by a series of photographs taken in Berlin and central Europe, which, taking fairgrounds as its theme, paid homage to Fernand Lger.His work is included in major collections (including Safra Holding, Olson Trust, and Lynch among others) and since 1999 has appeared regularly at auctions of contemporary art. Italian beaches, social works...