Jack Nisberg American, 1922-1980

Jack Nisberg was born in Chicago (USA) in 1922. He started studying photography but his course was interrupted when the U.S. entered World War II. At first he served on the Pacific front and later in Japan. On returning to the U.S. in 1947, he continued his studies at the famous Art Center in California. In 1950 he set up a studio in New York and for a time studied under Alexei Brodovitch. He loved photo reporting and met all the celebrities of New York life. In 1955, he moved to Paris as a free-lance photographer, working for the Anglo-Saxon and French press. For the Observer he photographed fashion as well as cultural events. For Newsweek he photographed the political, economic and artistic scene in Europe. He did a number of reportages on celebrities in the world of the arts: César, Giacometti, Vasarely, Cocteau, Dali, Sartre, Calder… Gastronomy was another one of his photographic passions. He himself a collector, he took a number of portraits of his famous predecessors or contemporaries, among them, Man Ray, Brassaï, Kertesz, Lartigue, Beaton, de Decker, Newton, Moon, Hamilton, Boubat, Parkinson… From 1970, until his death in the Loire Valley in 1980, he worked almost exclusively for French Vogue's social column, "The Eye of Vogue". His photographs are now exclusively distributed by Roger-Viollet world wide.