Cecil BEATON

The photojournalism market is booming. Turnover at auction has risen by more than 250% in 10 years, and the trend is strong in the USA, France and the UK.For many years photojournalism was considered a secondary form of art, much like scientific or ethnographic photography. Since the 1950s however it has become well established, partly thanks to World Press Photo, with its annual contest celebrating the year’s best journalistic photographs, and a number of exhibitions underlining the news photo’s dual role as documentary testimony and aesthetic artefact.

To mark the opening of Paris Photo, a selection of works encapsulating the various facets of fashion photography will come under Thierry de Maigret’s hammer in an auction to be held at Drouot on 16 November.

Edward STEICHEN, Cecil BEATON, Henri CARTIER-BRESSON, Robert CAPA, Raymond DEPARDON, Robert DOISNEAU, Walker EVANS, Dorothea LANGE, Marc RIBOUD are some of the biggest names in photojournalism, which for many years was considered a secondary form of art, much like scientific or ethnographic photography. Photojournalists bear witness to their time, using the camera to capture the real. Their photos have an important impact culturally as they become part of our collective memory, mainly through dissemination by the media.