IZIS : Paris des Reves (20^th january - 29^th may 2010)

During my Paris trip I went to a photography exhibition by Jewish-Lithuanian photographer Israëlis Bidermanas (1911–1980). He arrived in France in 1930 to escape anti-semitism and also to become a painter. Three year later he directed a photography studio. During the second world war he had to leave Paris, being a Jew and went south where he adopted the name Izis. Arrested by the Nazis and then freed by the Resistance he became an underground fighter. In that period Izis took a series of portraits of Maquisards which later became published.

Once back in Paris he became friends with Jacques Prévert. He took photos to go along poems written by his friend and other artists. Izis quickly took an important part in French humanist photography and is grouped with photographers like Brassaï and Doisneau. He is known for taking poetic photos of cities and people. He also worked for Paris Match for twenty years, choosing his topics.

At the exhibition they showed the cameras he used (a Leica and two Rolleiflex) and I was amazed, thinking that he needed to get really close to his subjects to be able to take his photos without them noticing. I also liked that most of his series are related to dreams.

In the video you can see some of his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W70Du5vX6w4

Sources:

-http://arts.jrank.org/pages/10792/Izis-(Israëlis-Bidermanas-1911–80).html

-http://www.photographiz.com/biographie/izis/

-http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/izis/