At once cosmopolitan metropolis and venue for a pensive stroll, Moloch and emblem of the modern, Paris has been a source of inspiration for countless artists and writers down the ages. But not least it is the home and constant muse of a relatively young art: photography. Since the earliest days of the daguerreotype right up to our time, renowned photographers such as Joseph Nicephore Niepce, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, and Jeanloup Sieff have lived and worked in the city of lights. Over the years a love affair developed between Paris and photography, giving rise to a remarkable record of the metropolis and a telling history of a new art form. This volume takes the reader on numerous walks, camera in hand, through the streets of Paris. Atmospheric black-and-white photos, shot by great photographers over two centuries, reveal the dramatic and the tranquil, the historic and the everyday?in the capital’s parks and gardens, boulevards and backstreets, passages and arcades, bistros and nightclubs.

The author:
Jean-Claude Gautrand is one of France’s most distinguished experts on photography. An active photographer since 1960, he has also made a name for himself as a journalist and critic, with numerous publications.