Louis Stettner (New York, 1922 - Paris, 2016) received his first camera at the age of thirteen. Shortly after, he began to regularly visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he had the opportunity to see Camera Work magazine. Through his pages, he became familiar with the work of photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Clarence H. White, and Paul Strand, who made a deep impression on him. Soon after he entered Stieglitz's circle and thanks to the Photo League he became acquainted with the work of Weegee, Sid Grossman, Edward Weston, and Lewis Hine.
At eighteen he enlisted in the Army as a war photographer in the Pacific, and upon his return to New York, he continued to work at the Photo League. In 1947 he traveled to Paris, where he lived for the next five years and was in charge of carrying out the first retrospective of French photography in New York, at the Photo League gallery, held in 1948. During this process, he met Brassaï, whom he considered his teacher and with whom he established a relationship that lasted over the years.
In the 1950s, Stettner returned to New York, where he began working for various magazines, such as Life, Time, Fortune, and Paris-Match, and writing about photography, something he did periodically thereafter. In the late 1960s, he began teaching at Brooklyn College, a branch of Long Island University. His political commitment, which he kept active throughout his life, led him to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, and, at a time when few did, he spent five weeks taking photos in the Soviet Union.
In the early 1980s, he stopped teaching and writing and devoted himself to researching his own work. In 1990 he returned to France and began to paint and sculpt. In 2001 he was named a Knight of Arts and Letters by the French Government and during this period he began one of his color series, "Manhattan Pastoral", which he produced during his summer vacations in New York City, as well as a project with a large format camera in the massif of the Alpilles, in the French Provence. The artist died in Paris on October 13, 2016, after the closure of his exhibition Ici ailleurs, at the Pompidou Center.
At eighteen he enlisted in the Army as a war photographer in the Pacific, and upon his return to New York, he continued to work at the Photo League. In 1947 he traveled to Paris, where he lived for the next five years and was in charge of carrying out the first retrospective of French photography in New York, at the Photo League gallery, held in 1948. During this process, he met Brassaï, whom he considered his teacher and with whom he established a relationship that lasted over the years.
In the 1950s, Stettner returned to New York, where he began working for various magazines, such as Life, Time, Fortune, and Paris-Match, and writing about photography, something he did periodically thereafter. In the late 1960s, he began teaching at Brooklyn College, a branch of Long Island University. His political commitment, which he kept active throughout his life, led him to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, and, at a time when few did, he spent five weeks taking photos in the Soviet Union.
In the early 1980s, he stopped teaching and writing and devoted himself to researching his own work. In 1990 he returned to France and began to paint and sculpt. In 2001 he was named a Knight of Arts and Letters by the French Government and during this period he began one of his color series, "Manhattan Pastoral", which he produced during his summer vacations in New York City, as well as a project with a large format camera in the massif of the Alpilles, in the French Provence. The artist died in Paris on October 13, 2016, after the closure of his exhibition Ici ailleurs, at the Pompidou Center.
