Willy Ronis (also Roness, French 1910-2009)

The Balkans – European Trouble Zone: The countries of the Balkan Peninsula have for many years been one of Europe’s trouble zones par excellence. They have always been the objects of power politics, each of the great European rivals trying to expand its own sphere of influence. Today again the Balkans are among Europe’s most dangerous trouble spots. / In a marketplace in Tirana, picturesque capital of Albania. Peasants, who have brought their products to town, waiting for customers, 1939 (Pre-World War II)

Vintage ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single-weight paper

Photographer's "Willy Roness" credit stamp on verso with PIX agency and typewritten title labels on verso

Print size: 6 7/8 x 9 inches

Condition: Overall Very Good; some slight handling marks throughout as is typical of prints from this period

WR-WW2-ALB-02

Retail: $2500

Willy Roness:

Willy Ronis is the son of Marcus Ronis, a Jewish emigrant from Odessa, Ukraine , originally from Russia, who arrived in Paris in 1904, and Tauba Gluckman, a Lithuanian Jewish pianist , who settled in Paris in 1899, fleeing the pogroms of the Russian Empire. An immigration official made a mistake and inscribed Ronis as "Roness", and it is under the name that Marcus Ronis opened his studio after a job as retoucher in photography in a famous studio, "to erase the wrinkles of the ladies".

Willy Ronis will sign his first works under the surname of "Roness". It was not until 1945 that the Ronis family found their real surname.

 

Willy Ronis (French 1910-2009)

 

Willy Ronis (French 1910-2009) was born in Paris; his father, Emmanuel Ronis, was a Jewish refugee from Odessa, and his mother, Ida Gluckmann, was a refugee from Lithuania, both escaped from the pogroms. His father opened a photography studio in Montmartre, and his mother gave piano lessons. The boy's early interest was music and he hoped to become a composer. Ronis' passion for music has been observed in his photographs.

 

Returning from compulsory military service in 1932, his violin studies were put on hold because his father's cancer required Ronis to take over the family portrait business. The work of photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams inspired Ronis to begin exploring photography.[5] His father died in 1936, whereupon Ronis sold the business and set up as a freelance photographer,[6] his first work being published in Regards.

 

In 1937 he met David Seymour and Robert Capa, and did his first work for Plaisir de France; in 1938–39 he reported on a strike at Citroën and traveled in the Balkans. With Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ronis belonged to Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, and remained a man of the left. In 1946 Ronis joined the photo agency Rapho, with Brassaï, Robert Doisneau and Ergy Landau, and was instrumental in forming the professional association Le Groupe des XV, and later joined Les 30 x 40, Club Photographique de Paris. Ronis became the first French photographer to work for Life.

 

Pricing:

Most prints available on the market are modern prints which range in price from $1500-$10,000.