Janine Niépce
Janine Niépce (February 12, 1921 – August 5, 2007) was a French humanist photographer. A distant relative of Nicéphore Niépce, the pioneer of photography, she was born into a family of winemakers in Burgundy.
In 1944, Janine Niépce graduated a license for the history of art and of archeology at the Sorbonne. At the same time, she developed films for the French Resistance and took part in the liberation of Paris as a liaison officer. Niépce was one of the first photo-journalists in France. Beginning in 1946 she traveled extensively in France, recording with a humanist sympathy the changes in French culture (including the first television in 1963 and the rise of rapid transport) and the contrast between life in the countryside, in the towns, and in the capital, Paris. Then from 1963 she began reporting from further afield in Europe and around the world, including Japan, Cambodia, India, USA, Canada.
In the 1970s, her work focused particularly on the women's liberation movement and its struggles for freedom of contraception, abortion and wage equality.
She was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1981.
From 1984 to 1986, she reported on researchers and technicians for the French Ministry of Research.
She became a Knight of the Legion d'Honor in 1985.
Since 1955, Janine Niépce worked with Rapho agency which published her photographs in the French press and internationally.
Publications
Janine Niépce has published at least 20 books of photographs, the most recent ones are:
- Niépce Duras (Éditions Actes Sud, 1992)
- Les années femmes (Éditions de la Martinière, 1993)
- Mes années campagne (Éditions de la Martinière, 1994)
- Images d’une vie (Éditions de la Martinière, 1995)
- Les vendanges (Éditions Hoëbeke, 2000)
- Françaises, Français, le goût de vivre (Éditions Imprimerie Nationale Actes Sud, 2005)
Recent Exhibitions
- 2003 Debelleyme Gallery, exhibition sale of signed prints
- 2004 Sale at the exhibition gallery Artcurial during the Mois de la Photo
- 2006 Exhibition, "Douce France" at the Museum of Auxerre.