A comprehensive new book titled "Denise Bellon: Un regard vagabond" published by Éditions Delpire & co pays tribute to one of photography's most adventurous and committed artists, whose work spanned decades and continents while documenting the Surrealist movement and major historical events of the 20th century.
Born in Paris in 1902 as Denise Hulmann, Bellon grew up in a middle-class Jewish family before her life took a dramatically artistic turn. During her teenage years, her encounter with the Maklès sisters opened up new horizons of freedom, and her meeting with André Breton in the 1920s introduced her to the Surrealist movement, to which she remained devoted throughout her entire career. Her entry into photography began when her partner, Olivier Béchet, gave her a Rolleiflex camera and introduced her to the photographers at Studio Zuber, with whom she would later establish Alliance Photo, the first photographic cooperative of its kind.
Bellon possessed an insatiable appetite for adventure, the unexpected, and new challenges that would define her remarkable career. According to her daughter, filmmaker Yannick Bellon, she was bold in her actions and would have loved to be an explorer. These qualities drove her to undertake ambitious photojournalism assignments across multiple continents, including groundbreaking work in the Balkans in 1934, Morocco in 1936, French West Africa in 1939, and Finland in 1939.
Until 1940, Bellon's photographs gained widespread recognition and were published in the most prestigious magazines and journals of the era. Her work appeared in publications such as Photographie 1938, Arts et métiers graphiques, Regards, and Paris Match, which notably published her compelling portraits of Roma people during a wedding celebration in 1939. Throughout her career, she crossed paths with legendary figures including Jacques Prévert, Marcel Duchamp, Moïse Kisling, Salvador Dalí, André Masson, and Jean Giono.
During World War II, Bellon was forced to take refuge in Lyon, where she courageously continued her photographic work in secret. She captured the oppressive atmosphere of the city under German occupation while her husband, Armand Labin, was actively involved in the French Resistance. Her wartime photography provides a unique historical document of life under occupation.
After the Liberation, Bellon embarked on several significant photojournalistic projects that showcased her commitment to documenting Jewish communities and cultural recovery. In 1945, she documented the Jewish Scouts center in Moissac, and in 1947, she photographed the Jewish community of Djerba. She also turned her lens toward the film industry, capturing portraits of notable figures including Serge Reggiani, Paul Grimault, Marcel Marceau, and Nico Papatakis.
One of her most famous photographs emerged from a 1947 reportage on the Cinémathèque Française, when she captured the iconic image of Henri Langlois in his bathtub. Her camera consistently documented various events related to the Surrealist movement, including the landmark International Surrealist Exhibition of 1938, as well as subsequent exhibitions in 1947, 1959, and 1965.
In 1953, Bellon documented a fascinating journey to Francoist Spain with renowned American writer Henry Miller. This collaboration would later inspire a joint book project between the two artists titled "Mejores no hay!" (There are none better!), demonstrating her ability to work across artistic mediums and with international collaborators.
From 1956 onwards, Bellon settled permanently in Paris, where she continued her diverse photographic work. She documented the film sets of her daughter Yannick Bellon's movies while simultaneously pursuing her own personal photographic projects, maintaining her artistic independence and vision.
The new book celebrates this committed woman who explored photography's full diversity without restricting herself to any particular aesthetic school or movement. Fourteen contributions by various authors provide comprehensive insights into Bellon's life and work, examining different periods of her career and the historical context in which her photographs were created. The beautifully crafted hardcover book spans 240 pages and features 193 faithfully reproduced images in a 20.2 x 26 cm format, priced at 42 euros with ISBN 979-10-95821-84-7. The French-language book was edited by Éric Le Roy and Nicolas Feuillie and is available through Delpire & co.
