André Ostier (1906–1994) was a French photographer well known for his artists' portraits and photo reports on "la vie parisienne"

Biography

Born into a middle-class Parisian family, he began his career as a bookseller ("À La Page") and then as a journalist before becoming a photographer, taking a series of portraits of artists and fashion photos published in the pre-war illustrated press. He travels a lot, takes pictures during his trips and leads a very intense social life in the world of art and culture. At the beginning of the war, after a first exhibition in 1940, he worked in the south of France and photographed actors (Micheline Presles, Pierre Jourdan...) and painters (Henri Matisse, Aristide Maillol, Pierre Bonnard...). In Paris, he photographed the occupied city as well as the Château de Versailles with its sandbagged sculptures, images that inspired Paul Eluard when they were published in Vogue français in 1945. Arrested for acts of resistance in 1944, the photographer was incarcerated in the Santé prison. After fearing the worst (Ostier was of Jewish origin), he was freed when General Leclerc's troops entered Paris. He then followed and photographed the troops in the Alsace campaign, taking several portraits of André Malraux. After the war, André Ostier, whose reputation was already well established, became friends with Christian Dior and Jacques Fath whose new-look creations he photographed. He would later photograph Yves Saint-Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Coco Chanel and Marcel Rochas with the same warm empathy. The trips follow one another: India, China, Thailand, North Africa, Europe... André Ostier died in January 1994, leaving behind a body of work that brings together numerous photographic testimonies, precious for the understanding of the great sociological, intellectual and artistic periods that forged the modernity of the 20th century.

Portraits

He captured the creative spirit and environment of painters such as

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

, etc.; writers such as

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...

and

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

; and fashion designers

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

and Yves Saint Laurent.Andre Ostier : ''Masques Et Bergamasques'' : French Institute Alliance Francaise, New York, 1988.

Parties

He also immortalized the grand parties of the 1950s and 1960s, where masks and costumes frequently heightened the festive atmosphere. Subjects included the Duke and

Duchess of Windsor Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intenti ...

Marie-Laure de Noailles Marie-Laure de Noailles in 1949, photographed by Carl van Vechten Marie-Laure Henriette Anne de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles (; née Bischoffsheim; 31 October 1902 – 29 January 1970) was a French artist, regarded one of the 20th century' ...

, Carlos de Beistegui,

Jacqueline de Ribes Jacqueline, Comtesse de Ribes (born 14 July 1929) is a French aristocrat, designer, fashion icon, businesswoman, producer and philanthropist. She has been a member of the International Best Dressed List since 1962. Early life Jacqueline Bo ...

Barbara Hutton Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante, socialite, heiress and philanthropist. She was dubbed the "Poor Little Rich Girl"—first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930 ...

.Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent
Exhibition at Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent, 2006

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* June 13 - September 1, 2019: André Ostier, Portraits of artists, Musée Matisse de la Ville de Nice. * May 18 - July 28, 2006 : André Ostier, Photographs, Yves Saint-Laurent Museum in Paris7. * 1989 : Masks and Bergamasks, Galveston Arts Center in Houston. * 1988 : Masques and Bergamasques, FIAF French Institute/Alliance Française de New York. * August 17 - September 23, 1993 : André Ostier Photographs - Colette's time, Association Arcade Colette in Paris. * November 4, 1982 - January 9, 1983 : André Ostier. Photographs of painters and sculptors 1941-1982 ois de la photo Musée Bourdelle in Paris8. * July 30 - August 11, 1988: Photographs André Ostier, French Cultural Center of Tangier. * 16–30 May 1957 : Images of Mount Athos, Connaissance du Monde in Paris.

Collective exhibitions

* January 27 - March 28, 1993 : TANGER - Regards Choisis, Institut du Monde Arabe. * 5–26 June 1991 : Hommage à Bettina - Photographie de mode 1945–1955, Institut International de la mode à Marseille. * October 12 - December 2, 1989 : Jean Cocteau The Mirror and the Mask : A Photo-Biography, Lieberman and Saul Gallery in New-York

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostier, Andre French photographers 1906 births 1994 deaths