Sabine Weiss: Photographing Moments In Time

Sabine Weiss (23 July 1924 – 28 December 2021) was a Swiss-French photographer who captured the joy of living

“I photograph to preserve the ephemeral, fix chance, to keep in an image what will disappear: gestures, attitudes, objects which are testimonies of our passing.”
– Sabine Weiss

 

Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss (23 July 1924 – 28 December 2021) was a Swiss-French photographer and one of the most prominent representatives of the French humanist photography movement in the 1950s and 60s, along with Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Martine Franck, Édouard Boubat, and Izis.

But her work is more than that. It spans the mid-century emergence of black-and-white street photography and photojournalism.

Her atmospheric photographs capture the joys of life, whether people watching in Western Europe’s cafes, squares and streets, or recording small moments in New York City.

Born in Switzerland, Weiss moved to Paris in 1946. While working with fashion photographer Willy Maywald, she met Robert Doisneau in 1952 at Vogue. This led her joining the Rapho press agency that would exhibit her work and a nine-year contract as a Vogue photographer.

 

Sabine Weiss

France 1953

SAbine WEiss

Spain 1954

NYC 1955

New York, 1955

Sabine WEiss

Berlin 1962

SAbine WEiss Paris

Paris Metro, 1955

New York 1955

New York, 1955

Vendeurs de pain, Athènes (Sellers of bread, Athens) Greece, 1958

Vendeurs de pain, Athènes (Sellers of bread, Athens)
Greece, 1958

Grand Central Terminal, New York, 1955

Grand Central Terminal, New York, 1955

Sabine Weiss

Lower East Side, NYC, 1955

Alberto Giacometti and his wife Annette, 1954

Alberto Giacometti and his wife Annette, 1954

Sabine Weiss

Olhao, Portugal, 1954

Sabine Weiss (Swiss-French, b. 1924) Chez Dior, Paris 1958

Chez Dior, Paris – 1958

Sabine weiss

1953, Self-portrait

Lead Image: Sabine’s husband, the artist Hugh Weiss, was told to run. “One day my husband and I found ourselves walking in that area, the light was beautiful. I told him, ‘Run!’ and he did. At that moment, I didn’t like that picture, but he said, ‘but do go ahead and take it’. It was good advice.”

Images via: Pompidou Centre, Jeu de Paume,

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