Sieff was in no way a theorist and once said he had no message to deliver nor any idea to put forward. “It's so easy to make a photographer say anything because viewer have their own understanding of a shot. I am only expressing feelings,” he added.
Considering that photography had nothing to do with art he loathed speculation in auction rooms, which induced galleries to offer big contracts to photographers. “Photography is not art though André Kertesz could be described as being an artist. Still what is important is that Bill Brandt, Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson and many other photographers have open magic doors.
The rest – exhibitions, museums, books, auction sales, festivals, seminars and so on- means little“? he stressed.
Sieff however noted that there were those who regarded photography as an art and others who did not but that such matter was pointless. “The idea I would like to be followed would be that there are good and bad photos,” he added.
In his view a picture had to be beautiful in order to have some impact as he believe that a photography showing a nude or a landscape was in fact more subversive than those images of war and violence, which in the long run would appear quite common.
Acclaimed by the public but rejected by the art world, Sieff was in fact much attached to being independent. Whatever what may be said about his work, he imposed a style, that of a keen professional who managed to become forever a legend in giving fashion photography a new impetus.
As much known as Man Ray, this young looking man nevertheless had the rare privilege of being rewarded with a retrospective exhibition of his works at the Museum of Modern in 1986 in Paris and with the French National Grand Prix of photography in 1992.
French photographer Jean-Loup Sieff died from cancer in Paris on September 20th 2000 aged 66.
Born to Polish parents in November 1933 in Paris, Jean-Loup Sieff took up photography at a very young age and first worked as an amateur reporter before working for the Woman's magazine “Elle” in 1950. He then joined the Magnum agency for a brief period but did not like his job much though his talent rewarded him with the Niepce Prize.
Preferring beautiful girls, glamour and fashion, he decided to work as an independent photographer working for “The Jardin des Modes” magazine during the early 1960s. He then had Helmut Newton and Frank Horvat as rivals and invented a new way of showing women in their best attires.
Sieff settled in the U.S in 1961 and was at 27 one of the few French photographers who managed to become successful there. He notably worked for “Harper's Bazaar”, “Glamour”, “Esquire” and “Ladies Home Journal” as for “Vogue” in Europe.
Back in France in 1966, Sieff was taking great pleasure taking shots of top models and nudes. Considered as one of the best fashion photographers, he won many prizes at a time when photography was not associated to art.
While the years passed by, Sieff adopted a more severe style playing with black and white contrasts and gave a new turn to his career in 1977 when he showed an interest in landscape photography after working in the Death Valley.
Sieff produced the portraits of many stars such as Charlotte Rampling, Alfred Hitchcock, Catherine Deneuve, Howard Hawks, Nureev, Jean-Paul Sartre or Kirk Douglas among others.
But above all he showed remarkable skills in photographing female nudes with chiaroscuro effects. He really loved women and did all he could to exhale their beauties often giving a priority to black and white.
Sieff was in no way a theorist and once said he had no message to deliver nor any idea to put forward. “It's so easy to make a photographer say anything because viewer have their own understanding of a shot. I am only expressing feelings,” he added.
Considering that photography had nothing to do with art he loathed speculation in auction rooms, which induced galleries to offer big contracts to photographers. “Photography is not art though André Kertesz could be described as being an artist. Still what is important is that Bill Brandt, Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson and many other photographers have open magic doors.
The rest – exhibitions, museums, books, auction sales, festivals, seminars and so on- means little“? he stressed.
Sieff however noted that there were those who regarded photography as an art and others who did not but that such matter was pointless. “The idea I would like to be followed would be that there are good and bad photos,” he added.
In his view a picture had to be beautiful in order to have some impact as he believe that a photography showing a nude or a landscape was in fact more subversive than those images of war and violence, which in the long run would appear quite common.
Acclaimed by the public but rejected by the art world, Sieff was in fact much attached to being independent. Whatever what may be said about his work, he imposed a style, that of a keen professional who managed to become forever a legend in giving fashion photography a new impetus.
As much known as Man Ray, this young looking man nevertheless had the rare privilege of being rewarded with a retrospective exhibition of his works at the Museum of Modern in 1986 in Paris and with the French National Grand Prix of photography in 1992.
Home
