‘La Vie’: Sabine Weiss in Cologne

Sabine Weiss has created an oeuvre spanning more than seven decades, with first successes in international magazines dating back to the 1950s. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Weiss completed her photography training in Geneva; in 1946, she moved to Paris, Europe’s leading-edge metropolis for culture and the visual arts. At that time, the French capital not only set the tone within the world of painting, but was also home to a new movement in photography: the école humaniste, which soon made waves across Europe as well as the USA. It was not long before Weiss counted among its most widely recognised representatives, along with the likes of Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Édouard Boubat, Brassaï and Izis.

Sabine Weiss is a skilled storyteller with a striking ability to convey a narrative within one single frame. The interplay between her subjects illustrates the artist’s gift for perceiving the remarkable within the ordinary. Her images open the viewer’s eyes to the supposedly small moments of everyday life, while capturing the genuine spirit of Paris and New York during a specific era.

Despite her advanced age, Weiss is more active than ever: over the past few years, numerous exhibitions have once again brought her extraordinary oeuvre to the attention of a wider audience. Her showcase ‘La Vie’ continues at the In Focus Gallery in Cologne until 4 July 2019.

For more details visit In Focus Galerie