---
description: Few publishers in the history of photography have had as lengthy a track record of producing books that are now considered the medium’s landmarks as Robert Delpire, who is honored in a tribute exhibition in New York City.
title: Master of the Photobook: Robert Delpire's Long and Legendary Influence
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f69fde34ec83ac5/69879df90b72e358ac6df84f/nashville-1-1821.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9
---
* [World](/section/world/)
## World
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
* [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/)
## LightBox
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
# Master of the Photobook: Robert Delpire's Long and Legendary Influence
by
[Jeffrey Ladd](/author/jeffrey-ladd/)
## Jeffrey Ladd
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
May 9, 2012 8:00 AM CUT
A Tribute to Robert Delpire runs from May 10 – June 16 at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. Lightbox presents a selection from the exhibition. Nashville, Tennessee, 1963
A Tribute to Robert Delpire runs from May 10 – June 16 at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. Lightbox presents a selection from the exhibition. Nashville, Tennessee, 1963Lee Friedlander
by
[Jeffrey Ladd](/author/jeffrey-ladd/)
## Jeffrey Ladd
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
May 9, 2012 8:00 AM CUT
Few publishers in the history of photography have had as lengthy a track record of producing books that are now considered the medium’s landmarks as Robert Delpire. As most post-war publishers often have had brief existences in the world of photobook publishing (which is stunningly disadvantageous financially), over the past 60 years, this former medical student and hobbyist photographer created and managed one of the most iconic photography and graphic arts publishing houses in Paris: Éditions Delpire. _A Tribute to Robert Delpire through the work of Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Josef Koudelka, Duane Michals and Paolo Roversi_ runs from May 10 – June 16 at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City.
Delpire’s transition from 23-year-old medical student to publisher came when he was asked to become editor-in-chief of the Maison de la Medicine’s cultural bulletin for its doctors. Delpire imagined the bulletin as a subscriber-based art review that would be richly illustrated, with a focus on photography. The first issue of _Neuf_ (meaning both ‘new’ and ‘nine’) appeared in June 1950, and over the course of its run, would devote much of its content to photographic works by Brassaï, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Izis (Israëlis Bidermanas), Willy Ronis and a young unknown artist, Robert Frank. Two of the issues were essentially monographs of Brassaï (_Neuf_ #5) and Robert Frank (_Neuf_ #7), which pointed toward Delpire’s interest in publishing books of photography.
One link between many of Delpire’s publications would be his interest in anthropology, as could be seen when he switched to publishing monographs of photographers under the short-lived imprint _Huit_ (Eight). Robert Doisneau’s _Les Parisiens Tels Qu’ils Sont_ (Parisians As They Are, 1954), Henri Cartier-Bresson’s _Les Danses à Bali_ (Dances in Bali, 1954) and George Rodger’s _Le Village des Noubas_ (The Village of the Nubas, 1955) are studies in the documentary vein encapsulated in three small-format hardcover books that feel like case studies of mankind. In 1957, he created a small collection of books on culture called the _Encyclopédie Essentielle_, which included the first appearance of Robert Frank’s _Les Américains_ (_The Americans_, 1958). That legendary magnum opus came across less as the beatnik road-trip as which it was later perceived, but instead with a particular anthropological flavor through texts—by literary luminaries such as Faulkner, de Beauvoir, Steinbeck and others—that Delpire positioned opposite Frank’s photographs.
Delpire’s career path has been as varied as the books he has published. Aside from the realm of photobooks, he has run a publicity agency with clients that included Citroën and L’Oréal, opened a gallery in Paris, produced a number of films including two by the photographer and filmmaker William Klein, created a creative studio and publishing house called Idéodis and became the first French publisher of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book _Where the Wild Things Are_.
In 1982 he was appointed by the French arts minister Jack Lang to be director of the Centre National de la Photographie, where he would organize exhibitions and create a collection of small pocket-sized books called the _Photo Poche_—the most successful series of photography monographs ever published. To date there are over 150 books in the collection, covering a wide range of photographic practices from the documentary-style traditions of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans and Lee Friedlander to the fine arts of Duane Michals, Paolo Roversi, Sarah Moon and Joel-Peter Witkin. Hardly any photographer’s bookcase is without a selection of these black-spine bound books.
Nevertheless, of all of his accomplishments, the name Delpire most conjures up his hand in the creation of books such as Josef Koudelka’s _Gitans La Fin du Voyage_ (_Gypsies – The End of the Voyage_, 1975) and _Exiles_ (1988), Cartier-Bresson’s _D’une Chine à l’Autre_ (_From One China to the Other_, 1954) and _Moscou_ (Moscow, 1955), Inge Morath’s _Guerre à la Tristesse_ (_War on Sadness_, 1955) and _De la Perse à l’Iran_ (_From Persia to Iran_, 1958), William Klein’s _Tokyo_ (1964) and _Indiens pas Morts_ (_Indians not Dead_, 1956) with photographs by Werner Bischof, Robert Frank, Pierre Verger.
Today, at 86, Delpire seems to sum up his accomplishments with a deceptively simple statement: “A publisher’s job is to showcase the work of others,” says Delpire. “It’s not just the work of a team; it requires deep mutual understanding. I’ve never published anyone who was of no interest to me.”
_The Pace/MacGill Delpire_ [_tribute_](http://www.pacemacgill.com/press%5Frelease%5Fupcoming.php "undefined") _opens May 10 in New York City. Five simultaneous_ [_companion exhibitions_](http://www.aperture.org/events/detail.php?id=854 "undefined") _across the city will expand on Delpire’s work._
_Jeffrey Ladd is a photographer, writer, editor and founder of_ [_Errata Editions_](http://www.errataeditions.com/ "undefined")_. Visit his blog_ [_here_](http://5b4.blogspot.com/ "undefined")_._
A Tribute to Robert Delpire runs from May 10 – June 16 at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. Lightbox presents a selection from the exhibition. Nashville, Tennessee, 1963 Lee Friedlander
Washington, DC, 1962 Lee Friedlander
Galax, Virginia, 1962 Lee Friedlander
Florida, 1963 Lee Friedlander
Spain, 1971 Josef Koudelka
Scotland, 1977 Josef Koudelka
Spain, 1971 Josef Koudelka
England, 1978 Josef Koudelka
The Most Beautiful Part of a Man's Body, 1986 Duane Michals
The Bogeyman, 1973 Duane Michals
Chance Meeting, 1970 Duane Michals
Guinevere in black dress, Paris, 1996 Paolo Roversi
Guinevere behind the table, Paris, 2004 Paolo Roversi
```json
[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3788403/robert-delpire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3788403/robert-delpire/"},"headline":"Master of the Photobook: Robert Delpire's Long and Legendary Influence","datePublished":"2012-05-09T08:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:41:05.903Z","description":"Few publishers in the history of photography have had as lengthy a track record of producing books that are now considered the medium’s landmarks as Robert Delpire, who is honored in a tribute exhibition in New York City.","url":"https://time.com/3788403/robert-delpire/","keywords":["LightBox","photography","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f69fde34ec83ac5/69879df90b72e358ac6df84f/nashville-1-1821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Ladd","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-ladd/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f69fde34ec83ac5/69879df90b72e358ac6df84f/nashville-1-1821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nashville-1-18(2)","caption":"A Tribute to Robert Delpire runs from May 10 – June 16 at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. Lightbox presents a selection from the exhibition. Nashville, Tennessee, 1963","creditText":"Lee Friedlander","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3788403/robert-delpire/","name":"Master of the Photobook: Robert Delpire's Long and Legendary Influence"}}]}]
```