Né en 1903, Gaston Paris est dès les années 1930 l'un des piliers de l'hebdomadaire Vu fondé en 1928 par Lucien Vogel. Seul salarié parmi les photographes, il partage les pages du magazine avec Laure Albin-Guillot, Germaine Krull, André Kertész, Martin Munkacsi, Man Ray ou Robert Capa. Il multiplie les reportages : exposition de 1937, sport, chanson, théâtre, le chantier du nouveau Trocadéro... etc. Aux côtés de cette production classique d'un reporter photographe de l'époque, il livre de nombreux petits reportages étranges et personnels, aux inspirations surréalistes : "Fleurs sans parfum, parfum de toutes les fleurs" (1937), "Le Radium originel vient d'entrer dans sa 26ème année" (1937). Il excelle dans les mises en scènes bizarres et devient l'un des collaborateurs attitré du magazine Détective de la fin des années 1930 aux années 1950 ; entre horreur et Grand Guignol il y reconstitue des drames peuplés de gangsters et de vamps. Il meurt à Paris en 1964. Rachetées par l'Agence Roger-Viollet peu après la disparition du photographe, les 15.000 photographies de Gaston Paris permettent de suivre l'évolution de son regard, de saisir sa familiarité avec ses modèles, Simenon, Cocteau, Jouvet ou Piaf, et de découvrir les charmes des concours de maillots de bain à la piscine Molitor, ceux des coulisses des Folies Bergère ou des ateliers d'Yves Brayer et de Moïse Kisling.
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The Chalais-Meudon aerodynamic wind tunnel, built from 1932 to 1934 by the engineer Lepresle. Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), 1936.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Circus artist. Fairground artist. France, around 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Austerlitz Viaduct. Paris, around 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Child in a suburb of Paris. France, 1936.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. Paris (IVth arrondissement). Photograph by Gaston Paris (1903-1964). Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris.
Gaston Paris / BHVP / Roger-Viollet
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Dressing room of the Folies Bergère. Paris, 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Re-enactment of a crime scene. Composition by Gaston Paris. France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Nude dancers with a snake. Paris, circa 1937-1939.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Sculpted bust of Greta Garbo (1905-1990), Swedish actress, about to be sent in the United States. Paris (IXth arrondissement), Grévin Wax Museum, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Study of a nude. France, circa 1937-1939.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Circus : clowns. France, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Strip-tease : "le robot". France, vers 1937.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Exhibition of surrealism. Mannequin by Kurt Seligmann. Galerie des Beaux-Arts of Georges Wildenstein, 140, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Paris (8th district), January 1938.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Aerial view of the Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre. Paris (18th Arr.), 1936. Photograph by Gaston Paris (1903-1964). Historical Library of the City of Paris.
Gaston Paris / BHVP / Roger-Viollet
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Royflex advertisement. Posed by Gaston Paris (1903-1964), French photographer.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Home of André Dignimont (1891-1965), French painter. Paris, circa 1940.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Communicant girl. France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Women at a fun fair. France, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Line Renaud (born in 1928), French singer and actress, at the Jonchère. Rueil-Malmaison (France), circa 1955.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Closing of a café. Paris, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Worker on a construction site. France, 1938.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Gaston Paris (1903-1964), French photographer.
Roger-Viollet / Roger-Viollet
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"La Créole", operetta by Jacques Offenbach. Josephine Baker. Paris, Théâtre Marigny, December 1934.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977), French director. Paris, circa 1955.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Benedictine monk in a corridor of the abbey. Saint-Wandrille (France).
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Henri Salvador (1917-2008), French singer-songwriter. France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Exhibition on surrealism. Model by Sonia Mossé (1917-1943). Galerie des Beaux-Arts de Georges Wildenstein, 140 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Paris (VIIIth arrondissement), January 1938.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Children in a suburb of Paris. France, 1936.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Exodus of the Republicans in France, February 1939.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Nightmare. Photograph by Gaston Paris for "La Clef des Songes". France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Circus : trapeze artists. France, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Boxing match. France, circa 1937-1938.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Variety show at the Folies-Bergère. Paris (IXth arrondissement), circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Poor children in a hovel in the suburbs of Paris, in the 1950's.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Young man. France, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Mirror effect on a sphere. Photograph by Gaston Paris. France, circa 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Circus. Blade show. France, circa 1935. Photograph by Gaston Paris (1903-1964).
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Edith Georges (1931-1981), French actress, singer and dancer. France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Re-enactment of a crime scene. Composition by Gaston Paris. France, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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The Eiffel Tower. Paris (VIIth arrondissement), circa 1945.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Reconstruction of a brawl scene. France, circa 1950. Photograph by Gaston Paris.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Gaston Paris (1903-1964), French photographer, taking a picture of the distorted reflection of a roundabout in a spherical mirror. France, circa 1937. Photograph by Gaston Paris (1903-1964).
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Brigitte Bardot (born in 1934), French actress. France, circa 1954-1955.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Personality rights must also be cleared for commercial use : Open Art Productions, Claire Riffard, claireriffard@lcj-editions.com, Tél 01 41 38 85 85
The Chalais-Meudon aerodynamic wind tunnel, built from 1932 to 1934 by the engineer Lepresle. Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), 1936.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Couple. Paris, circa 1950.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Reportag on Albert Préjean (1894-1979), French actor. The Eiffel Tower. Paris (VIIth arrondissement), circa 1955.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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"Volpone" by Jules Romains, after Ben Jonson. Charles Dullin. Paris, Théâtre de l'Atelier, September 1937.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Grévin museum. Wax figure of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born physicist and theoretician. Paris (IXth arrondissement), circa 1930.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Factory chimney. Paris, around 1935.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Surrealism exhibition. Dummy by Maurice Henry. Paris (VIIIth arrondissement), Galerie des Beaux-Arts, 140 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, January 1938.
Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet
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Artist copyright must also be cleared © ADAGP or corresponding collecting society.