Matthieu Foss Gallery: Martine Franck

Martine Franck (born 1938) is a Belgian photographer, and a member of the prestigious Magnum Photos agency. Born in Antwerp, Martine Franck spent her childhood in the United States and England before studying art history at the University of Madrid and then at the Louvre School in Paris.

She was the second wife of famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, and is president and co-founder of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. In 2003, with their daughter Melanie, she and Henri Cartier-Bresson set up this foundation in Paris.

Martine Franck’s meeting with stage director Ariane Mnouchkine led to an initiatory voyage by the pair in the Far East. On her return to France Franck became assistant to Eliot Elisofon and Gjon Mili at Life magazine. 'She was a member of the first Vu agency in 1970 and helped found the Viva agency two years later.

Her work includes portraits of artists and writers, and humanitarian reportage, and she has photographed every production by Mnouchkine's Theatre du Soleil since its creation in 1964. In 1985 she began working with the humanitarian association the Little Brothers of the Poor. Her other major photographic projects include documenting the ancient Gaelic community of Ireland (1993), the education system of the Tibetan Tulkus monks (2000) and La Fontaine's Fables (2004).

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