Paris (AFP)
Franco-Swiss photographer Bruno Barbey, ex-director of the Magnum agency and author of major reports that have remained famous, died Monday at the age of 79, announced the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Within Magnum, where he joined at the age of 25, this photographer born in Morocco will have held the positions of vice-president for Europe (from 1978 to 1979) and president of Magnum International (from 1992 to 1995) .
Along with his work as an author, he photographed major historical events.
He often returned to the scene of his first reports, sometimes ten or thirty years later, and saw photography as a work of memory, the Academy noted in a press release.
Bruno Barbey was the author of around thirty books, and has collaborated with authors such as Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Czeslaw Milosz, Jean Genet, Bernard Guetta, Philippe Tesson.
The photographer had been noticed by a first black and white report devoted to the Italian society of the 60s. He then met Marc Riboud and Henri Cartier-Bresson and was co-opted with the Magnum agency.
His photographs are part of many collections of major museums.
His latest book, "Color of China", was published in 2019.
Bruno Barbey was a member of the photography section of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, where he was elected in 2016 and in which he actively participated.
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