First retrospective of the photographer Jacques Léonard in France

The Jacques Léonard exhibition. The nomadic spirit takes a tour of the photographic and life trajectory of the author Jacques Léonard (Maisons-Laffitte, 1909 - l'Escala, 1994) through 164 images - 68 period copies, 85 current copies and 11 portraits –, mostly unpublished. The retrospective can be visited from May 27 to October 1 at the Ville d'Arles fine arts museum, Musée Réattu and is organized by the Photographic Social Vision Foundation, which has been representing the Léonard Archive for more of ten years, in collaboration with the French museum. This is the first retrospective of the French photographer, known for documenting gypsy Barcelona.

Jacques Léonard began working at the Gaumont film studios in Paris and in 1952 he settled in Spain, where he became a professional photographer.

Recognized for documenting gypsy Barcelona, the Jacques Léonard exhibition. The nomadic spirit internationalizes the author's work and discovers an unknown part of his archive, which consists of more than 20,000 images, beyond the photographs of the gypsy community, one of the themes most discussed by Léonard throughout his life.

Jacques Leonard. The nomadic spirit discovers the photographic archive of Jacques Léonard, and takes a journey through the life and photographic career of the author.

In Barcelona, Jacques Léonard fell in love with the gypsy woman Rosario Amaya, whom he married. The gypsy community was one of the subjects most photographed by the author throughout his life. Of the preserved archive, about 4,000 negatives and almost three-quarters of the original copies deal with gypsy culture.

Léonard has left a gallery of images documenting life in Barcelona between the 1950s and 1970s: streets, markets, parties, amusement parks, the port, the breakwater and promenade, sporting activities (such as the Davis Cup and the 24 hours of Montjuïc), sample fair, operations at the Sant Pau hospital, children in the street... Also from various towns on the Catalan coast, such as Sitges, Salou, Tossa or Vilanova and la Geltrú, portraying the incipient tourism

The exhibition, curated by Maria Planas, responsible for the management of the Jacques Léonard Family Archive by the Photographic Foundation, and by Daniel Rouvier, director of the Musée Réattu d'Arles, also shows the three cameras he worked with and the documentary Jacques Léonard is shown. El payo Chac directed by Yago Léonard, grandson of Jacques Léonard, and produced by Curt Ficcions Curt Produccions (2011).

"Jacques Léonard photographed almost all of his life for professional but also personal reasons, and on many occasions for the simple pleasure of capturing reality as he saw it", says Maria Planas, co-curator of the exhibition.

The gypsies

The Jacques Léonard exhibition. The nomadic spirit is included in the program of the 54th edition of Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles, which will be held from July 3 to September 24. Coinciding with the opening of the festival, the Photographic Foundation will organize a second Jacques Léonard exhibition in Arles, this time at the Anne Clergue Galerie, with current and vintage prints for sale. The exhibition, entitled The gypsies, can be visited from July 4 to August 26.