Willy Ronis retrospective at Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice

The largest Italian exhibition dedicated to French photographer Willy Ronis (1910-2009) is on view at Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice. Curated by Matthieu Rivallin, the show features over 200 images spanning Ronis's career, highlighting his focus on working-class life and his political commitment as a communist. Ronis, who was Jewish, communist, and French, is considered the most political among the five French photographers exhibited at MoMA in 1951-1952 alongside Izis, Doisneau, Brassaï, and Cartier-Bresson. The exhibition includes a section of previously unseen photographs taken in Venice during a workshop at Palazzo Fortuny, and about thirty works are accompanied by Ronis's own handwritten notes. These texts, written after 2002 when he could no longer photograph due to mobility issues, reflect his didactic approach; he taught at École nationale Louis-Lumière in Paris, Marseille, and Avignon, influencing a generation of French photographers. The show also previews the upcoming publication of six photo albums by Flammarion containing over 590 images and texts. Ronis's work, which deliberately excludes the wealthy and powerful, documents ordinary people's resilience through major historical events from the 1930s to the 1980s.