Janine Niepce was born on February 12, 1921 in Meudon in a wine-growing family in Burgundy. In 1944, she passed an Art History and Archeology degree at the Sorbonne university. Meanwhile, she developed films for the Resistance forces and took part in the Liberation of Paris as a liaison officer. From 1946 onwards, she was one of the first French women to work as a reporter photographer and traveled all around France for the Tourism and Foreign Affairs Commission, showing the evolutions and permanences of a society under mutation. In 1955, she joined the Rapho agency and made her first reports about directed labor and family planning, tackling what would then become the main theme of her work: the feminine condition. From 1963, she traveled throughout Europe and worldwide (Japan, India, Cambodia, United States, Canada) and covered the events of May 1968 dressed up as a foreign tourist. Between 1970 and 1980, she followed the women’s struggles for the liberty of contraception, termination of pregnancy and equal pay. Thus, she made numerous portraits of women, famous or anonymous, in Paris and in the provinces. From 1984 to 1986, she made reports about advanced technology jobs for the Ministry of Research. She died in Paris in 2007. Janine Niepce published a dozen of books and her works are exhibited and housed in numerous French and international museums. Roger-Viollet has been the exclusive distributor of her photographs since June 2010.
Janine Niepce (1921-2007), French photographer. Self-portrait. Paris, 1980.
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Catherine Valabrègue greeting a woman at the French Movement for Family Planning. Paris, 1960's. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Lesson of painless childbirth. Saint-Denis (France), 1956. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Young woman taking the contraceptive pill. Paris, 1967. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Demonstration for the freedom of abortion. Paris, on October 6, 1979. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Instructor from the family planning giving a sex education lesson in a school in the suburbs of Paris, 1973. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Feminists' gathering organized by the MLF (Women's Liberation Movement). Vincennes (France), 1973. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Press conference. Presentation of the candidates for the elections of "Choisir". Presentation of the "Programme commun des femmes" published in 1978 by "Choisir" and Gisèle Halimi's book "La Cause des femmes" published in 1973. Paris (VIth arrondissement), Hôtel Lutetia, February 6th, 1978. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), French woman of letters, at the feminists' gathering organized by the MLF (Women's Liberation Movement), with her adopted daughter Sylvie Le Bon, philosophy teacher. Vincennes (France), June 17th, 1973. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Country dance at the Cité Internationale Universitaire. Paris (XIVth arrondissement), 1962. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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One of the first low-cost flat. Vitry-sur-Seine (France), 1965. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Kissing couple, rue Saint-Vincent. Paris (XVIIIth arrondissement), 1956. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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A family in front of their Citroën 2CV. Parisian suburbs, 1950s. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Rural policeman annoucing the news in Rully (Saône-et-Loire), 1955. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Ideal Home Exhibition at the Grand Palais. Trendy refrigerators and washing machines. Paris (VIIIth arrondissement). Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Wine grower driving her tractor. Charente (Poitou-Charentes), 1967. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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A wedding procession. Charente (France), 1965. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Boys reading the "Journal de Mickey" (French comics magazine), in front of the boys town school. Paris, 1953. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Spelling lesson. Example: Une petite fille née dans une rose (A little girl was born in a rose). Paris suburbs. 1967. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Two big Tintin lovers : Janine Niepce's father and her son. Rully (France), 1952. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Two fans of Tintin with their grandmother. Rully (France), 1952. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Man in front of a bakery, rue de Sèvres. Paris, 1963. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Boy from Paris, 1957. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Events of May-June 1968. Demonstrator waving a red flag during a C.G.T. demonstration, on the place de la Bastille. Paris, May 29, 1968. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Events of May-June 1968. Strike at the Renault car factory. Boulogne-Billancourt (France), on May 21, 1968. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Jean-Paul Sartre and Alberto Moravia at the Venice Film Festival for the presentation of the film "Le mur" after Jean-Paul Sartre's book. Venice (Italy), 1967. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Colette (1873-1954), French writer. Paris, 1953. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Elisabeth Badinter (born in 1944), French writer and philosopher. Paris, 1990. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Robert Hossein (born in 1927), French actor and director. France, 1950. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Lino Ventura (1919-1987), Italian actor. France, 1950. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Inès de la Fressange (born in 1957), French model. France, 1993. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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On the last day of grape harvest, they celebrate the "paulée", feasting around the table. France, 1950. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Grape-pickers unloading baskets at the grower's. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Three women up on a cart decorated with flowers, loaded with grapes. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Meal of students during the grape harvest in Burgundy. 1973. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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An immigrant receiving a work and residence permit for a three-month period. Paris, 1988. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Extension of the residence permit of an African immigrant in a French administration. Paris, 1988. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007)
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Immigrants in a shanty town. Paris suburbs, circa 1968. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).$$$
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Couple at the table of a café terrace. Paris. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Immigrants walking in a shopping street. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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First aid lesson. France, 1966. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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African immigrant women. Writing lesson by the charity "Union Féminine Civique et Sociale". Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Black crêpe de Chine dress, Lanvin collection, 1950. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Stylish woman wearing a suit and comfortable shoes, passing billboards in the Opera district. Paris (IXth arrondissement), 1950's. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Little boy in the courtyard of the Invalides. Paris (VIIth arrondissement), 1953. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Passers-by in front of the triumphal arch of the Carrousel and the Louvre museum. Paris (Ist arrondissement), 1955. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Couple in front of the lit-up fountains of the Champs-Élysées roundabout by night. Paris (VIIIth arrondissment), 1957. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Man selling miniatures of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, 1950s. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Young woman and visitors at the top of the left tower of Notre-Dame cathedral. Paris (IVth arrondissement), 1956. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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Elegant woman, on the place Vendôme, near the Hotel Ritz. Paris (Ist arrondissement), 1956. Photograph by Janine Niepce (1921-2007).
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