BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Frasnay was a French photographer born on August 26, 1928, in Villeneuve-le-Roi and whom died on September 23, 2019, in Charolles. He was one of the leading figures of the generation of humanist photographers that included, for example, Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Izis, André Kertész, and Édouard Boubat.
Daniel Frasnay was a true observer of Parisian nightlife as the official photographer for the Lido, the Carrousel, and the Folies Bergère for fifteen years. “His work was often commissioned, whether for the Lido, the press, or a specific book [.] However, his rigor and his ‘eye of the heart’ elevate his photography to the level of art. A true magician of light, he was one of the first to use a ‘flash.’ [...] In this way, he manages to capture the brilliance of the thousands of sequins on the bodies of the strippers and drag queens; to extract these bodies from the world of illusion and ephemeral spectacle and make them permanent.” (Iliana Kasarska)
This self-taught photographer rubbed shoulders with the Parisian elite of the 1950s and 1960s and immortalized numerous personalities from the worlds of entertainment and cinema, such as Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, Sophia Loren, Maurice Chevalier, Juliette Gréco, Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Michel Simon, Jean Cocteau, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and many others.
But he also photographed Saint-Germain-des-Prés—Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Arthur Miller, André Breton—and took portraits of the great painters and sculptors of his time, such as Jean Arp, Bernard Buffet, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, César, Max Ernst, Hans Hartung, Yves Klein, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Jean Tinguely, and Ossip Zadkine. Far removed from his early days at Studio Harcourt, he did not simply churn out portraits: he captured these celebrities in their studios, during moments of creation or reflection, and always took care to preserve their intimacy and their sublime quality.
EXHIBITIONS
2018
- 186 feuilles. La collection de dessins et de photos de Vitry-sur-Seine depuis 1979, Galerie municipale Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
2016
- The Family of the Invisibles. Collections du Cnap et du Frac Aquitaine, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) & Ilwoo Space, Seoul, South Korea
- L’atelier ouvert. Quand un artiste pousse la porte d’un artiste, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- Cinéma, spectacle, stars… Un air de fête, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2014
- Drive in, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
2008-2009
- Jour et nuit. Bei tag und nacht, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Augusteum, Oldenburg, Germany
2007
- Gens de la scène et du grand écran, IUT d'Arles, Université de Provence, France
2006
- Daniel Frasnay, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
2005
- Photographies humanistes, 47th Festival of the Opera Litmosyl, Smetana, Czech Republic
2003
- Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2002
- Paris Bohème, Galerie Argus Fotokunst, Berlin, Germany
2001
- Cicatrices de la mémoire, University Claude Bernard Lyon I, Lyon, France
- Galerie Olivier Houg, Lyon, France
2000
- Zadkine. Portraits et ateliers, Théâtre Gérard Philipe, Villeurbanne, France
1999
- Kunstler Unserer Zeit, Altes Rathaus, Bad Nauheim, Germany
- César à l'œuvre et signes. Formes et figures de l'Ile de Pâques, Jesuites' Chapel, Chaumont, France
1994
- Leur monde. Peintres et sculpteurs, Atelier Arimage, Marseille, France
- Portraits des jours et de la nuit, Galerie Municipale de Vitry-sur-Seine, France
- Zadkine. Portraits et ateliers, National Center of Photography, Paris, France
1993
- César à l'œuvre, Nourritures Terrestres, Villeurbanne, France
- Portraits des jours et de la nuit, Galerie du Corum and Musée Fabre's Pavilion, Montpellier, France
- Portraits des jours et de la nuit, French Institute in Danemark and Copenhague Visual, Copenhagen, Denmark
1992
- César à l'œuvre, Nourritures terrestres, Villeurbanne, France
1991
- Portraits des jours et de la nuit, Photographique Center of Ile de France & Galerie du Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France
- Salon national de la photographie, Parc des expositions, Paris, France
1989
- Quarante portraits de créateurs, Association of Lyonnais Authors and Writers, Lyon, France
- Arts Artistes Arcueil, Arcueil's City Hall gallery, Arcueil
1988
- Leur monde et Hommage couleur à Lorjou, Arcueil's City Hall gallery, Arcueil, France
- Epreuves d'artistes, Cicatrices de la mémoire, peintres et écrivains, acteurs, Cultural Services, Miramas, France
- Leur monde : peintres et sculpteurs, Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France
1985
- Les amants de l'atoll Drouot, Hôtel de Drouot, Paris, France
1971
- La marche de l'humanité, Grand Palais, Paris, France
1970
- Cicatrices de la mémoire, Musée Galliera, Paris, France
- Galerie Le Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France