He was one of our greatest photographers, a humanist witness to a troubled 20th century. Willy Ronis passed away in September 2009, on the eve of his hundredth birthday. This homage organised by the Jeu de Paume and La Monnaie de Paris from 16th April to 22nd August shows an unknown side to his work.

Because behind these 150 black and white photographs of anonymous passersby, of the children of Paris, of scenes of everyday post-War life, the profound engagement of this communist militant comes through. His tremendously poetic way of capturing ordinary people struggling for survival was above all a way of reflecting the precarious living conditions of the working class.

In this exhibition you can also see a little-known aspect of Ronis, photos taken outside France, during his numerous trips including one to East Germany for the French Association of Franco-German exchanges, meant to “show an ordinary society”; or snapshots of his wife and his son, revealing his private life as though wanting it to become more universal.

His relationship with the human body, which can be seen in his female nudes or in the silhouettes walking in the street, are also a part of this aesthetic world in which social commitment is never far.