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In Memorian - Sabine Weiss

The well-known Swiss-French photographer Sabine Weiss died at the age of 97 at home in Paris. For nearly eight decades, Weiss captured social change in her images. She was considered the last representative of the French school of humanist photography, to which Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis or Brassaï also belonged.

"My life was fantastic," Sabine Weiss said in 2019 in conversation with gallery owner Burkhard Arnold and guests at in focus Galerie, Cologne on the occasion of her opening of the retrospective exhibition "la vie" in Cologne. "I did everything in photography, I was in factories, I photographed rich people, I photographed fashion and many reportages. From the beginning I had to live from photography, it was not something artistic. It was a craft, I was a photographic craftswoman." At the same time, she said a good photograph must be "touching, well composed and simple."

Click here for an excerpt of the video "My life was fantastic" with Sabine Weiss at in focus Galerie, Cologne 2019.

Sabine Weiss was born in Switzerland in 1924. At the age of twelve she bought her first camera, and at 16 she began an apprenticeship in a renowned Geneva photo studio. In 1946, she settled in Paris. In 1995, she took French citizenship.
Weiss began documenting the lives of ordinary people at an early age. Her first job after arriving in Paris was with the famous German fashion photographer Willy Maywald, whose assistant she was between 1946 and 1949. The pioneer of post-war photography was also known for her fashion shots in "Vogue" and for her portrait photographs. In addition to "Vogue," her clients included "Newsweek," "Time," "Life," "Esquire" and "Paris Match."

In 1950 she married the US-American painter Hugh Weiss. She participated in the exhibition The Family of Man by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955. Weiss participated in art exhibitions, especially in France and the United States. From 1954 she realized more than 170 solo exhibitions.
In 2017, the photographer determined that her archive would be cared for by the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne after her death. Her photographs are represented in some 25 collections of prestigious museums worldwide.
 
Au revoir Madame Weiss !!!
 
    
In memory of this great photographer, we will show a selection of her best photographs in our cabinet parallel to the Herbert Döring-Spengler exhibition from January 15 to March 19, 2022.

Herbert Döring-Spengler
"Photo Sculptor"

in the cabinet:
Sabine Weiss
"In Memory"

Exhibition from January 15
until 19 March 2022

Opening on Saturday, January 15, 2022 from 7 - 9:30 pm.

2G regulations apply. We use air purifiers in the rooms.

Opening hours:
Wed. - Fri. 4 - 7 p.m,
Sat. 11 - 15 h
and by appointment.

Rheinischer Art Award 2020 goes to our artist Herbert Döring-Spengler

We are pleased that at the important Rheinische Art Award 2020 goes to our artist Herbert Döring-Spengler.
Exhibition at Rheinischem Landes Museum, Bonn, October 27th 2021 up to January 21st, 2022.
Exhibition at in focus gallery, Cologne, January up to March 2022
The huge retrospective book about Herbert Döring Spengler is available at in focus gallery from September 2021.
Please click her to view the video to the award cerenomy.