From Our Archives: Louis Stettner
Les Alpilles No.16, courtesy of Louis Stettner
This article was first published in our 20th Issue, Motion
Louis Stettner (1922–2016) was a poetic photographer of the streets of New York, Paris, and the world as a whole. A native New Yorker and a long-time denizen of Paris, he focused preeminently on these cities, the many-roomed mansions known for photography. Stettner served as a combat photographer during World War II and, in 1946, landed himself in Paris. While he intended to stay less than a month, he stayed five years. It was in Paris where he began his career in earnest, reveling in the pleasure and promise of peacetime and beginning his lifelong pursuit to photograph everyday life, the passing scene, the choreography of the city. He described his work as focusing on “what the French call la vie quotidienne with its so-called humdrum joys and problems. Everyday life–what was immediately happening around us–counted most.”
He started in the streets lugging around an 8x10 view camera and tripod. Brassaï himself was impressed with Stettner’s “mastodonian” equipment. Stettner was obsessed with maintaining detail and texture in the print, sacrificing mobility, spontaneity and flexibility. “Nevertheless, Avenue de Chatillon and Aubervilliers, both taken in 1947, would not have come into existence without that magnificent mistake … of using the view camera. Later on, of course, I was to use a Rolleiflex and a Leica,” he said.
Les Alpilles No.3, courtesy of Louis Stettner
For Stettner, photography was a way of engaging with humanity, but in the final years of his life, he turned his attention toward nature. He traveled to Les Alpilles (Little Alps) of Provence fourteen times between 2013 and 2016 to photograph the low, limestone mountain range jutting into the Rhône Valley, just south of Avignon. Having spent most of his life in cities, Stettner often felt the desire for closer contact with nature because it was something that he lacked all his life.
He photographed in upstate New York, Mount Desert Island in Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Spain and Mexico. Stettner first heard of Les Alpilles while visiting Colmar, Alsace in France, where he had gone to see the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald. A conversation with an art conservator led to Stettler and his wife, Janet, visiting the Alpilles.
Stettner was captivated by the nature of the region, especially the trees’ twisted, bent and leaning postures. The Mistral and other winds that blow through Provence bear down on the trees and foliage all year round. Stettner felt that the trees possessed individual personalities. There is a magnificent “harp of the winds” photograph of trees in Carpentras, France from 1981, but in the Alpilles, he was struck, disturbed, moved. “There was something in the light - in those twisted trees. I was taken by a huge enthusiasm!” Stettner exclaimed.
Les Alpilles No.6, courtesy of Louis Stettner
Inspired to photograph the Alpilles with a large-format camera, Stettner shipped one from the United States while settling into his Parisian base in Saint-Ouen.
As he wrote, “Nature is a great paradox—very physical yet life in its most spiritual form. She never stops trying to communicate to us. Trees are her favorite antennae. We have only to immerse ourselves in a forest … to become revitalized.” Stettner’s first visit to the Alpilles led to additional trips that, in essence, became a kind of pilgrimage. The forested slopes, dells and glades were places of enchantment where he could immerse himself in nature, commune with it and ponder existential questions.
Louis Stettner (1922–2016) was a poetic photographer of the streets of New York, Paris, and the world as a whole. A native New Yorker and a long-time denizen of Paris, he focused preeminently on these cities, the many-roomed mansions known for photography. Stettner served as a combat photographer during World War II and, in 1946, landed himself in Paris. While he intended to stay less than a month, he stayed five years. It was in Paris where he began his career in earnest, reveling in the pleasure and promise of peacetime and beginning his lifelong pursuit to photograph everyday life, the passing scene, the choreography of the city. He described his work as focusing on “what the French call la vie quotidienne with its so-called humdrum joys and problems. Everyday life–what was immediately happening around us–counted most.”
He started in the streets lugging around an 8x10 view camera and tripod. Brassaï himself was impressed with Stettner’s “mastodonian” equipment. Stettner was obsessed with maintaining detail and texture in the print, sacrificing mobility, spontaneity and flexibility. “Nevertheless, Avenue de Chatillon and Aubervilliers, both taken in 1947, would not have come into existence without that magnificent mistake … of using the view camera. Later on, of course, I was to use a Rolleiflex and a Leica,” he said.
Les Alpilles No.14, courtesy of Louis Stettner
For Stettner, photography was a way of engaging with humanity, but in the final years of his life, he turned his attention toward nature. He traveled to Les Alpilles (Little Alps) of Provence fourteen times between 2013 and 2016 to photograph the low, limestone mountain range jutting into the Rhône Valley, just south of Avignon. Having spent most of his life in cities, Stettner often felt the desire for closer contact with nature because it was something that he lacked all his life.
He photographed in upstate New York, Mount Desert Island in Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Spain and Mexico. Stettner first heard of Les Alpilles while visiting Colmar, Alsace in France, where he had gone to see the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald. A conversation with an art conservator led to Stettler and his wife, Janet, visiting the Alpilles.
Stettner was captivated by the nature of the region, especially the trees’ twisted, bent and leaning postures. The Mistral and other winds that blow through Provence bear down on the trees and foliage all year round. Stettner felt that the trees possessed individual personalities. There is a magnificent “harp of the winds” photograph of trees in Carpentras, France from 1981, but in the Alpilles, he was struck, disturbed, moved. “There was something in the light - in those twisted trees. I was taken by a huge enthusiasm!” Stettner exclaimed.
Inspired to photograph the Alpilles with a large-format camera, Stettner shipped one from the United States while settling into his Parisian base in Saint-Ouen.
As he wrote, “Nature is a great paradox—very physical yet life in its most spiritual form. She never stops trying to communicate to us. Trees are her favorite antennae. We have only to immerse ourselves in a forest … to become revitalized.” Stettner’s first visit to the Alpilles led to additional trips that, in essence, became a kind of pilgrimage. The forested slopes, dells and glades were places of enchantment where he could immerse himself in nature, commune with it and ponder existential questions.
