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Photo by Marc Riboud, Painter on the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1953

Marc Riboud

Painter on the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1953

Gelatin silver print

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” 

Marc Riboud (1923-2016) was a French photojournalist, best known for his photography of politically charged and culturally significant moments in history. He was an engineering student, but turned to full-time photography. In 1953 his famous image of the painter on the Eiffel Tower was published in LIFE magazine. In the 1950' and 1960's he spent long times in the Middle and Far East, being one of the few photographers permitted to work in Vietnam. His photo essays, while focusing on specific people and moments, narrate the events unfolding around them. His images have been published in Life, National Geographic, and Stern, and are to be seen in public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

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