ALBERT MONIER. Sous les Ponts de Paris (Clochards and Ring for Tying up Barges along the Seine near Notre Dame), c. 1954. 9.25" x 10" toned silver print on 9.25 x 11" paper. Printed c. 1950s. Artists signature embossed on print recto. Inscribed on separate mount on verso in ink: Il est parti, / Seul. / Dans la nuit… / Et ses yeux / Sont etes ouverts / Il n'afait rien / Il a tout l'univers… / Il est parti / seul / Dans la nuit / sans regrets / sans tristesse / Personne ne l'a aime / Persone quand il avait froid / N'a jamais e'chauffe ses droits.. / Il est parti / seul / Dans la nuit / A la effort / Il a dit: / Merci… merci… /MRM/12-2-54

Beautiful abstract and contemplative waterfront photograph with original poem verso, "He left Alone in the Night... Albert Monier was born in Cantal, France on May 3, 1915. Some of the most popular postcards of Paris during the 1950s and 1960s featured Monier's black and white photography.

Monier worked outside the established world of commercial printing, creating his own postcards on photographic paper in his own lab. Using a small number of images, he managed to gain a popular foothold in the world of postcard photography, then dominated by Editions Yvon.

In 1951 he began turning his work into black and white continental-size real photo postcards. In 1960 color postcards were introduced, and in 1963 he began publishing posters. During his lifetime Monier manufactured about 80 million postcards and 100,000 posters from his own studio, although his larger exhibition photographs are quite scarce. He was a fine photography printer.

His images of Paris are typically emptier of people than those of Robert Doisneau. But he had a special empathy for the men of the working class and those even poorer, and when people do appear in his photography, they are more likely to be homeless or extremely poor than to be nattily dressed. In addition to Paris, Monier photographed in rural France and French North Africa.

Good / Very good. Minor wear and tears on print edges.