Nouvelle Vague French Photography from the 1950s and 1960s

Peter Fetterman Gallery presents Nouvelle Vague, an evocative survey celebrating the essence of French photography through the eyes of some of the twentieth century’s most admired artists. Bringing together works by Edouard Boubat, Raymond Cauchetier, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Sabine Weiss, and others, the exhibition pays tribute to a generation that forever transformed the language of visual storytelling in postwar France.

Emerging from the ideals of the French Humanist movement of the 1930s, these photographers created a visual style that balanced documentary realism with poetic sensibility. Their images captured fleeting moments of tenderness, humor, and quiet beauty within the rhythms of everyday life. Whether depicting lovers in a Parisian street, children at play, or workers returning home at dusk, their work sought to reveal the universal dignity and emotional depth of human experience. Positioned between journalism and fine art, these photographs offered an empathetic lens through which to view a world rebuilding itself after the devastation of war.

The Humanist spirit that animated these artists extended beyond photography, influencing film, literature, and visual art throughout the mid-twentieth century. Their collaborations with publications such as LIFE, Paris Match, and Vogue helped disseminate this lyrical realism to a global audience, shaping the visual identity of modern France. Today, these images endure as timeless meditations on connection, resilience, and the quiet poetry of the ordinary.

Nouvelle Vague invites viewers to revisit the golden age of French photography while reflecting on its continuing relevance in a fractured contemporary world. The exhibition reaffirms photography’s enduring power to convey empathy and to remind us, across generations and borders, of our shared humanity.

Nouvelle Vague
French Photography from the 1950s and 1960s
September 06, 2025 to January 03, 2026

Peter Fetterman Gallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue Gallery A1
Santa Monica, CA 90404
peterfetterman.com

Raymond Cauchetier 1920-2021 Belmondo & Seberg Kiss In Front of a Kiosk – Champs Elysees, 1959

Raymond Cauchetier 1920-2021 “Technical Counselor” Jean Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol, “À Bout De Souffle”, 1959

Raymond Cauchetier 1920-2021 Jules et Jim, course Charenton- le-pont, 1961 (Printed 2020)

Dorothy Bohm Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, 1953

Edouard Boubat Deux Fillettes à Maubert, Paris, 1952

Edouard Boubat 1923-1999 La mariée, église Saint Roch, Paris, 1952/Printed later

Jean Philippe Charbonnier (France, b. 1921-2004) “Bettina” ed.# 19/50, 1953

Robert Doisneau 1912-1994 La Stricte Intimité [In the Strictest Intimacy], Rue Marcelin Berthelot,

Robert Doisneau 1912-1994 Le Baiser Blotto, 1950/Printed Later

Janine Niepce L’ Elegante et les Colonnes Morris, Paris, 1950/Printed Later signed on recto in ink