A Lifelong Passion

Sabine Weiss ranks among the most important representatives of French humanist photography, with a career spanning more than seven decades. Fellow artists such as Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis and Brassaï also count as famous protagonists of the movement, which emerged after World War II and essentially combined the philosophy of the Enlightenment with social documentary practices.

From reportages and artist portraits to magazine illustrations, fashion shots or advertisements, Sabine Weiss viewed all areas of photography as an equally worthy challenge: a reason to travel and seek out encounters – a raison d’être and a means of self expression.

The exhibition Sabine Weiss. A Photographer’s Life, in which the artist was personally involved right up to her death, speaks of this life-long passion, and highlights the focus points of an oeuvre that has evolved out of a deep fascination for the human condition. Original prints, archival documents and films culminate in a portrait of a photographer driven by her inexhaustible curiosity about people – be in France, where she settled in 1946, in the USA or during her countless travels across Europe.