CLAUDE AZOULAY "From Marilyn Monroe to Andy Warhol, from Brigitte Bardot to Jean-Paul Belmondo"
About Claude Azoulay:
Claude Azoulay did not choose the profession of photographer reporter. It was the profession that chose him. Tunis, the bombings, the Nazis, then the parades of British soldiers to the joyful sound of fifes and drums… these are his first memories. With their consequence: for him, freedom will never be a vague idea. At the age of 14, he boarded a liner alone to reach Marseille.He speaks French, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, English, Spanish. Equipped to be a nomad, he is ready to become a journalist. France-Soir ;first, at the time of the great Lazareff, then, from 1957, the very exclusive club of Paris-Match the largest photo magazine in Europe. Claude Azoulay is in too much of a hurry to specialize. He wants day and night, Dior and the battlefields, Hollywood and Saint Tropez. A kaleidoscope life, a zapping life, from parties to tragedies .From Marilyn Monroe to Andy Warhol, from Brigitte Bardot to Jean-Paul Belmondo, from the mines of Valenciennes to the sands of Sinai, from the Legion to the Tsahal, a unique human experience which, at the beginning of the eighties, allowed him to tackling a new territory, another jungle: politics and François Mitterrand.But, in the gardens of the Elysée or in the ruins of Beirut, his style always remains the same: spontaneity and truth, for images that are both punchy and confidential.
Daniele Georget (journalist, writer)
