Background

Bruno Barbey was born on February 13, 1941, in Morocco. He spent his childhood in Morocco. He earned a plane pilot's certificate and practiced skydiving at the age of sixteen.

Education

Bruno Barbey attended Lycée Henri-IV in Paris since he was 16. He studied photography and graphic arts at the École des Arts et Métiers (now Centre d'enseignement professionnel de Vevey) in Vevey, Switzerland.

Career

After graduation, Bruno Barbey began traveling around the world, including Naples, Camargue, Portugal, Kenya, Kuwait and Scotland on behalf of Éditions Rencontre de Lausanne. He publishes an illustration book of each of these destinations.

Bruno Barbey joined the Magnum agency in 1966 and became a full member in 1968. He held the positions of Vice President for Europe from 1978 to 1979 and President of Magnum International from 1992 to 1995. Within the Magnum agency, he begins then, parallel to his work as an author, a career of photojournalist which would lead him to multiply short stays related to the news throughout the world for publications in newsmagazine (such Life, Paris Match, Stern or National Geographic). He goes to Biafra at the beginning of the Civil War with Nigeria, he follows General de Gaulle in Poland, Nasser portraits and photographs the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet revolution in Moscow. From time to time, he stays longer in a particular country or region to publish a book.

Bruno Barbey photographs prolifically the workers 'and students' revolts of May 1968 in Paris. He joined forces with a group, including Marker and Godard, to make hit-and-run films on strikes. He also photographs the student riots in Tokyo. In 1970, he directed with Jean Genet a report on the Palestinians published in the magazine Zoom. In 1971 and 1972, he covered the Vietnam War, including the battle of An Loc. His photographs are published in Life magazine.

In 1972 he began a long-term work on Morocco, a country of his childhood, with the desire to save the memory of this time. Several books, with texts by Jemia and J. M. G. Le Clézio and Tahar Ben Jelloun, would be published in the 1990s and 2000s.

Bruno Barbey stayed in China in 1973 during the Cultural Revolution and then in Phnom Penh besieged by the Khmer Rouge. He photographs the Yom Kippur War in Syria and Israel. In 1974, he went underground to Iran with Kurds in Iraq. There he meets General Moustapha Barzani. In 1975, he photographed the Green March from Morocco to Western Sahara. In 1976, he returned to Iran to prepare a book with René Maheu, then the sixth Director-General of UNESCO.

In 1980, Bruno Barbey spent three months in Bombay to publish a book at Time and Life. In 1981 and 1982, he spent long periods in Poland which, under the impetus of the Solidarity trade union, which was at a turning point in his career. He followed the very popular Pope's tour. All these resulted in a book (prefaced by journalist Bernard Guetta). In 1984, he published a book on Gabon. In 1991, he covered the Gulf War and followed the Kurdish refugees in Iraq and Turkey.

During these years, Barbey multiplied his stays in Morocco. In Paris, the Institute of the Arab World hosted an exhibition on the city of Fez in 1996. In 1999 the Petit Palais, Paris, organized a large solo exhibition of photographs taken by Bruno Barbey in Morocco over a period of three decades.

Since 2005, Barbey devoted himself to long work on Turkey, mainly in Istanbul. He also made several trips to South Korea (2007-2008), Brazil (2008-2009) and China (2008-2013).

In 2019 he worked on a new project and photographing extensively in China.

Achievements

• 

  Bruno Barbey has received numerous awards for his work, including the French National Order of Merit. His photographs are exhibited worldwide and feature in numerous museum collections. Today he is working on a new project and photographing extensively in China. In 2016, Bruno Barbey was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institut de France, along with Sebastião Salgado and Jean Gaumy, following the creation of two new chairs in the photography section (section VIII). His membership was officially established on April 4, 2018, by Alain-Charles Perrot. Barbey received his academic sword from Jean-Noël Jeanneney.

Works

More photos

• book

  • May 1968: At the Heart of the Student Revolt in France

    (May 1968 brings together the contemporary eye of acclaime...)

    2018
  • China: From Mao to Modernity

    (Magnum photographer Bruno Barbey first discovered China w...)

    2015
  • The Italians

    (Offers portraits of Italians from all walks of life with ...)

    2002
  • My Morocco

    (Throughout Bruno Barbey's travels, one constant remains -...)

    2003
  • Bruno Barbey 2015
  • Passages 2015
  • Bombay 1980
  • Simone de Beauvoir und Jean-Paul Sartre in Paris. 2001
  • Pologne 1982
  • Bruno Barbey'nin Istanbulu 2010

• photography

  • Shanghai, China

    (Lovers on the promenade of the renovated Bund against the...)

    2010

  • Shanghai, China

    (A Chinese worker installs an advertisement with a night v...)

    2019

  • Silesia, Poland

    (A man holds a figure of an angel in the village of Paczim...)

    1981

  • Istanbul, Turkey

    (Girls watching a fashion show in front of a 16th-century ...)

    2009

  • Tokyo, Japan

    (Demonstration against the construction of the Narita Airp...)

    1971

  • Jurgow, Poland

    (A Cardinal rides to a village by horse-drawn carriage to ...)

    1976

  • Silesia, Poland

    (Children on their way to church for their first communion...)

    1981

  • Gdansk, Pomerania, Poland

    (Mass is held during the First National Delegate Congress ...)

    1981

  • Kunming, China

    (A young couple in front of advertising for a pain-free ab...)

    2013

  • Silesia, Poland

    (Steelworkers pause during their shift at the Huta Katowic...)

    1981

  • Silesia, Poland

    (Pilgrimage during the Holy Week in the town of Kalwaria Z...)

    1981

  • Silesia. Poland

    (Newlyweds during the Virgin's feast in the town of Kalwar...)

    1981

  • Istanbul, Turkey

    (Working-class from the financial region on the Subway Gay...)

    2009

  • Cracow, Poland

    (In the editorial office of the weekly newspaper Solidarnosc.)

    1981

  • Silesia, Poland

    (Huta Katowice steelworks where iron and steel are combined.)

    1981

  • An Loc. South Vietnam

    (A United States bombardment, after the battle of An Loc. ...)

    1972

  • United States Marines

    (United States Marines at the Burgan burning oil fields. T...)

    1990

  • Debno, Poland

    (A gypsy family on the foothills of the Tatra mountains.)

    1981

  • Pomerania, Poland

    (A woman collects coal in the town of Chemno.)

    1981

  • Silesia, Poland

    (Chimney sweepers in the town of Gniezno.)

    1981

  • Seoul, South Korea

    (Han riverside park in the Mangwon area.)

    2007

  • Students hurling projectiles against the police

    (France. Paris. 6th arrondissement. Boulevard Saint Germai...)

    1968

  • Poland. Zalipie

    (Poland. Zalipie, the "painted village" near Ternow. House...)

    1976

  • Italy. Rome

    1964

  • Morocco. Meknes. Moulay Ismael Mausoleum

    1985

  • Italy. Rome

    1964

  • Portugal

    1993

  • Morocco. Village of Maadid, near Erfoud

    2002

  • A boy plays in the Riviere of Galets

    1991

  • Morocco, Essaouira

    1997

  • Morocco, Essaouira

    1985

  • Iraq. Kurds

    1974

  • South Korea

    2014

  • The Amazon River. Belem, Brazil

    2008

  • Chefchaouen. Morocco

    1995

  • Seeking shelter on a sidewalk. Mumbai, India

    1980

  • World Expo 2010. Shanghai, China

    2010

  • Sichuan province, China

    1980

  • Genoa, Liguria, Italy

    1962

  • Auschwitz, Poland

    1981

Views

Quotations: "Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world."

"This is an early digital photograph for me. I started shooting digital some 10 years ago. I had been using Kodachrome for decades, but digital techniques offered me many new possibilities and incredible flexibility. It stimulated creation."

Membership

• 

  Academy of Fine Arts , France

  2018

Personality

Bruno Barbey rejects the label of 'war photographer', although he has covered civil wars in Nigeria, Vietnam, the Middle East, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Iraq, Kuwait, and liberation war in Bangladesh.

Interests

• skydiving

Connections

There is no information on whether Bruno Barbey is married or has any children.

collaborator:

René Maheu

Acquaintance:

Pope John Paul II

Acquaintance:

Jean-Paul Sartre

References

• Bruno Barbey Official Website