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| Marc Riboud, Photojournalist Who Found Grace in the Turbulent, Dies at 93 | Marc Riboud, Photojournalist Who Found Grace in the Turbulent, Dies at 93 |
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| Marc Riboud, the French photojournalist who captured moments of grace even in the most fraught situations around the world, died in Paris on Tuesday. He was 93. | Marc Riboud, the French photojournalist who captured moments of grace even in the most fraught situations around the world, died in Paris on Tuesday. He was 93. |
| His death was confirmed by his widow, Catherine, who gave the cause as Alzheimer’s disease. | His death was confirmed by his widow, Catherine, who gave the cause as Alzheimer’s disease. |
| Mr. Riboud’s career of more than 60 years carried him routinely to turbulent places throughout Asia and Africa in the 1950s and ’60s, but he may be best remembered for two photographs taken in the developed world. | Mr. Riboud’s career of more than 60 years carried him routinely to turbulent places throughout Asia and Africa in the 1950s and ’60s, but he may be best remembered for two photographs taken in the developed world. |
| The first, from 1953, is of a workman poised like an angel in overalls between a lattice of girders while painting the Eiffel Tower — one hand raising a paintbrush, one leg bent in a seemingly Chaplinesque attitude. | The first, from 1953, is of a workman poised like an angel in overalls between a lattice of girders while painting the Eiffel Tower — one hand raising a paintbrush, one leg bent in a seemingly Chaplinesque attitude. |
| The second, from 1967, is of a young woman presenting a flower to a phalanx of bayonet-wielding members of the National Guard during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration at the Pentagon. | The second, from 1967, is of a young woman presenting a flower to a phalanx of bayonet-wielding members of the National Guard during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration at the Pentagon. |
| Both images were published in Life magazine during what is often called the golden age of photojournalism, an era Mr. Riboud exemplified. | Both images were published in Life magazine during what is often called the golden age of photojournalism, an era Mr. Riboud exemplified. |
| A protégé of Henri Cartier-Bresson, he was on the front lines of world events, from wars to antiwar demonstrations. Even so, Mr. Riboud did not consider himself a record keeper. “I have shot very rarely news,” he once said. | A protégé of Henri Cartier-Bresson, he was on the front lines of world events, from wars to antiwar demonstrations. Even so, Mr. Riboud did not consider himself a record keeper. “I have shot very rarely news,” he once said. |
| Rather than portray the military parades or political leaders of the Soviet Union, for example, he was drawn to anonymous citizens sitting in the snow, holding miniature chess boards and absorbed in their books. | Rather than portray the military parades or political leaders of the Soviet Union, for example, he was drawn to anonymous citizens sitting in the snow, holding miniature chess boards and absorbed in their books. |
| Of the many hundreds of shots he published from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Tibet and Turkey, only a handful are of figures historians have written about. | |
| Born on June 24, 1923, in Lyon, France, he was the fifth and, by his account, the most shy of seven children from a bourgeois family that expected him to take up a respectable vocation. It was his father, an enthusiastic traveler and amateur photographer, who led him astray by giving him a vest-pocket Kodak when Marc was a teenager. | Born on June 24, 1923, in Lyon, France, he was the fifth and, by his account, the most shy of seven children from a bourgeois family that expected him to take up a respectable vocation. It was his father, an enthusiastic traveler and amateur photographer, who led him astray by giving him a vest-pocket Kodak when Marc was a teenager. |
| His first photographs were of the Paris Exposition in 1937. After World War II, in which he had fought around Vercors as a member of the Resistance, Mr. Riboud studied mechanical engineering at the École Centrale in Lyon. He took a factory job in the nearby town of Villeurbanne after graduating in 1948. | |
| Not until he found himself taking pictures of a cultural festival in Lyon during a one-week vacation in 1951 did he at last decide to commit to the unstable life of a freelance photojournalist. He moved to Paris in 1952. | Not until he found himself taking pictures of a cultural festival in Lyon during a one-week vacation in 1951 did he at last decide to commit to the unstable life of a freelance photojournalist. He moved to Paris in 1952. |
| There he met Cartier-Bresson, who became his mentor. Already a celebrity in his field, this “salutary tyrant,” as Mr. Riboud called him, dictated “which books to read, what political ideas I should have, which museums and galleries to visit.” | There he met Cartier-Bresson, who became his mentor. Already a celebrity in his field, this “salutary tyrant,” as Mr. Riboud called him, dictated “which books to read, what political ideas I should have, which museums and galleries to visit.” |
| “He taught me about life and about the art of photography,” Mr. Riboud said. | “He taught me about life and about the art of photography,” Mr. Riboud said. |
| Among the lessons imparted was that “good photography” is dependent on “good geometry.” The Eiffel Tower photograph from 1953, the first that Mr. Riboud published, proves how well the pupil absorbed the lesson. In a radio interview more than 50 years later, he still recalled the English-language caption given to the image by the Life copy writers: “Blithe-ful on the Eiffel.” | Among the lessons imparted was that “good photography” is dependent on “good geometry.” The Eiffel Tower photograph from 1953, the first that Mr. Riboud published, proves how well the pupil absorbed the lesson. In a radio interview more than 50 years later, he still recalled the English-language caption given to the image by the Life copy writers: “Blithe-ful on the Eiffel.” |
| In 1953, Cartier-Bresson nominated his protégé to join Magnum, the photo collective he had helped found. Until 1979, when he left to go out on his own, Mr. Riboud traveled and photographed constantly for the agency. | In 1953, Cartier-Bresson nominated his protégé to join Magnum, the photo collective he had helped found. Until 1979, when he left to go out on his own, Mr. Riboud traveled and photographed constantly for the agency. |
| In 1955, he drove a specially equipped Land Rover to Calcutta from Paris, staying for a year in India. He was also one of the first Westerners to photograph in Communist China and spent three months in the Soviet Union in 1960. | In 1955, he drove a specially equipped Land Rover to Calcutta from Paris, staying for a year in India. He was also one of the first Westerners to photograph in Communist China and spent three months in the Soviet Union in 1960. |
| Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, he documented the anticolonial independence movements in Algeria and West Africa, and during the Vietnam War he was among the few able to move easily between the North and South. | Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, he documented the anticolonial independence movements in Algeria and West Africa, and during the Vietnam War he was among the few able to move easily between the North and South. |
| In the United States, he documented not only protests against the Vietnam War but also a pensive Maureen Dean listening to her husband, the Nixon aide John Dean, testify at the Watergate hearings in 1973. | In the United States, he documented not only protests against the Vietnam War but also a pensive Maureen Dean listening to her husband, the Nixon aide John Dean, testify at the Watergate hearings in 1973. |
| During the last third of his life, Mr. Riboud was recognized by museums in many of the countries where he had worked. Photographs from his travels were collected in more than a dozen monographs, including “Marc Riboud: Photographs at Home and Abroad” (1986), “Marc Riboud: Journal” (1988) and “Marc Riboud in China: Forty Years of Photography” (1996). | During the last third of his life, Mr. Riboud was recognized by museums in many of the countries where he had worked. Photographs from his travels were collected in more than a dozen monographs, including “Marc Riboud: Photographs at Home and Abroad” (1986), “Marc Riboud: Journal” (1988) and “Marc Riboud in China: Forty Years of Photography” (1996). |
| In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 1973, and the International Center of Photography, in 1975, honored him with exhibitions. He was also the subject of retrospectives at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1985 and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2004. | In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 1973, and the International Center of Photography, in 1975, honored him with exhibitions. He was also the subject of retrospectives at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1985 and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2004. |
| Unlike some artists who resent that the public’s infatuation with a few of their works turned them into clichés, Mr. Riboud did not mind describing the circumstances behind “The Eiffel Tower Painter.” | |
| No, he did not ask the workman to pose, he would answer patiently. To have spoken to the man might have caused him to slip. “I’ve always been shy, and I’ve always been trying to ignore the people I was photographing so that they ignore me,” he said. | No, he did not ask the workman to pose, he would answer patiently. To have spoken to the man might have caused him to slip. “I’ve always been shy, and I’ve always been trying to ignore the people I was photographing so that they ignore me,” he said. |
| Of the flower girl at the Pentagon, a 17-year-old high school student named Jan Rose Kasmir, he ventured, “I had the feeling the soldiers were more afraid of her than she was of the bayonets.” (The two later reunited in London, where he photographed her carrying a poster of the 1967 image at an anti-Iraq War demonstration in 2003.) | Of the flower girl at the Pentagon, a 17-year-old high school student named Jan Rose Kasmir, he ventured, “I had the feeling the soldiers were more afraid of her than she was of the bayonets.” (The two later reunited in London, where he photographed her carrying a poster of the 1967 image at an anti-Iraq War demonstration in 2003.) |
| The immense popularity of these two photographs, assisted by countless reproductions, could well have warped perceptions of Mr. Riboud’s highly diverse body of work. And yet they did truly represent the gravitational bent of his personality. | The immense popularity of these two photographs, assisted by countless reproductions, could well have warped perceptions of Mr. Riboud’s highly diverse body of work. And yet they did truly represent the gravitational bent of his personality. |
| “I have always been more sensitive to the beauty of the world than to violence and monsters,” he wrote in 2000 in an essay titled “Pleasures of the Eye.” “My obsession is with photographing life at its most intense, as intensely as possible. It’s a mania, a virus as strong as my instinct to be free. If taste for life diminishes, the photographs pale, because taking pictures is like savoring life at 125th of a second.” | |
| In 1961, he married Barbara Chase, the American sculptor, poet and novelist. The couple had two sons, Alexei and David, before divorcing in the 1980s. He is survived by his second wife, the journalist and author Catherine Chaine, with whom he had a daughter, Clémence, and a son, Théo. | In 1961, he married Barbara Chase, the American sculptor, poet and novelist. The couple had two sons, Alexei and David, before divorcing in the 1980s. He is survived by his second wife, the journalist and author Catherine Chaine, with whom he had a daughter, Clémence, and a son, Théo. |
| At 86, Mr. Riboud still began his day by loading film into his Canon EOS 300. His weakness for sentimental subjects and left-wing causes marred his reputation with some critics. | At 86, Mr. Riboud still began his day by loading film into his Canon EOS 300. His weakness for sentimental subjects and left-wing causes marred his reputation with some critics. |
| But this optimism, coupled with his overt sympathies for the downtrodden and a working style that put an emphasis on freedom of movement, unencumbered by any equipment except a camera and his wits, also served to keep him photographing until the end of his life. | But this optimism, coupled with his overt sympathies for the downtrodden and a working style that put an emphasis on freedom of movement, unencumbered by any equipment except a camera and his wits, also served to keep him photographing until the end of his life. |
| “My vision of the world is simple,” Mr. Riboud said when he was in his 80s. “Tomorrow, each new day, I want to see the city, take new photographs, meet people and wander alone.” | “My vision of the world is simple,” Mr. Riboud said when he was in his 80s. “Tomorrow, each new day, I want to see the city, take new photographs, meet people and wander alone.” |