Louis Stettner came to photography as a child
Louis Stettner was born on 7th November 1922 in Brooklyn, New York. One of four children of a carpenter, he learnt his trade from his father, which later gave him the financial security he needed to pursue his artistic interests. He was given a camera as a child, with which he made his first photographic attempts as an enthusiastic autodidact. His family frequently visited various museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Stettner discovered his general love of art. At the age of 18, he joined the United States Army, where he worked as a photographer for the Signal Corps, first in Europe and then in New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan. After the war, Louis Stettner became a member of the Photo League in New York and visited Paris for the first time in 1946. The French capital with its lively cultural scene made such an impression on the young American that he moved to Paris the following year, 1947, to start his career as an artist.
Successful exhibitions in France and Germany
Louis Stettner studied at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris from 1947 to 1949 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Over the following two decades, he not only built up a considerable photographic reputation, but also commuted constantly between Paris and his original hometown of New York. As a photographer, Stettner initially devoted himself to the difficult reconstruction of the city in the post-war period. In 1947, he organised an exhibition of French photographers on behalf of the New York Photo League and presented works by photographers such as Édouard Boubat (1923-1999), Brassaï (1899-1984), Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), Izis (1911-1980) and Willy Ronis (1910-2009) to great media acclaim, and held his own first exhibition in the Salon des Indépendants of the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1949. Louis Stettner also attracted attention in Germany, where his work was included in the famous Subjective Photography exhibition in 1951.
Photographic chronicle of New York and Paris
For over six decades, Louis Stettner photographed the cities of Paris and New York, where he spent the majority of his life. He not only devoted himself to the famous landmarks of the metropolises, but also took a special interest in the working class and their everyday lives. When he portrayed people in their natural surroundings and all their ups and downs, he did so with great empathy and in a dignified manner. One of Stettner's friends and role models was Paul Strand (1890-1976), who also came to Paris under the pressure of the political situation in the McCarthy era, and in the 1990s, Stettner followed Strand's example and used a large-format camera. In addition to his cityscapes, Stettner also photographed still lifes and landscapes, developing a preference for the Alpilles in Provence, which Vincent van Gogh (1853-189) had often painted.
Louis Stettner died on 13th October 2016 in Saint-Ouen, France.
Louis Stettner - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
