Jean Manzon (Paris, France 1915 - São Paulo SP 1990)
Jean Manzon was a photographer and filmmaker. He began his career as a photojournalist for the French magazine Paris-Soir. In 1938, he also joined the staff of the magazine Match, an important French periodical. He arrived in Brazil in 1940 and settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he worked for the publications of Diários Associados, especially the magazines O Cruzeiro and, later, Manchete. He is considered by some scholars to be responsible for the renewal of Brazilian photojournalism, especially through the series of photo essays produced for O Cruzeiro. In that publication, his work was often associated with that of David Nasser, who wrote the texts.
From 1952 onward, he worked as a filmmaker, making more than 900 documentaries over four decades. Among them, L'Amazone stands out, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Italy, in 1966. Between 1968 and 1972, he returned to Paris, where he took over as director of the magazine Paris Match. He is the author of the books Mergulho na Aventura [Dive into Adventure] (1950), in partnership with David Nasser; Flagrantes do Brasil [Snapshots of Brazil] (1950); Brasil [Brazil] (1952, published in Monaco); and Féerie Brésilienne [Brazilian Enchantment] (1957, published in Switzerland), among others.
Critical Commentary
Jean Manzon began his career as a photojournalist for the French magazine Paris-Soir, also joining the team that founded the magazine Match, a French periodical with a large circulation. He came to Brazil in 1940, settling in Rio de Janeiro, where he worked for the publications of Diários Associados, mainly the magazine O Cruzeiro, and later the magazine Manchete. In 1952, he founded a film company that produced more than 900 documentaries.
As the scholar Helouise Costa notes, Manzon introduced a new model at O Cruzeiro. In his reports, he introduced a photographic language stemming from his European training: low and high angles, oblique shots, emphasis on expressive details and the intentional use of staging. His work is often associated with that of David Nasser, who wrote the texts. In the photographs, at first glance, the staged character stands out: the images are arranged in advance, everything seems carefully planned. In the researcher's opinion, the result, far from being a documentary record, presents itself as an ideal moment. Manzon reveals a conception of photojournalism linked to the idea of montage developed by avant-garde cinema. He preferably used a Rolleiflex camera, which allows great control of composition and the prior marking of space. Despite their staged character, his photographs are seen as accounts of a realist nature.
Critiques
"(...) Jean Manzon, with his Rolleiflex on his chest, bringing ashore new concepts of European visuality, notably from the Russian school of photography. Manzon lined up close-ups and ground-level angles. He established a defined point of view and refined taste regarding form and content, a virtuoso enslaved to composition. Manzon revolutionized Brazilian photojournalism, giving it a sophisticated character".
Walter Firmo
Catálogo Prêmio Esso de Fotografia
"As a photojournalist, Jean Manzon played a pioneering role at O Cruzeiro (...). The style of reportage he came to establish until 1951 has the sense of a demarcation of borders and is thus concretely linked to the triggering of a set of ideas, within which the works of the various photojournalists who gradually joined 'O Cruzeiro' emerged.
Jean Manzon was a master of the conscious use of photographic language. His images indicate a clear intervention of the photographer in capturing the fact, with reports reflecting montages and stagings he built based on the manipulation of formal procedures, used to reinforce the opinionated character he gave to his work".
Nadja Peregrino
PEREGRINO, Nadja. 'O Cruzeiro': a revolução da fotorreportagem. Rio de Janeiro: Dazibao, 1991.
Posthumous Exhibitions
1992 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Brasilien: Entdeckung und Selbstentdeckung [Brazil: Discovery and Self-Discovery], at Kunsthaus
1995 - São Paulo SP - 5ª Coleção Pirelli/Masp de Fotografias [5th Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection], at Masp
1995 - São Paulo SP - Contatos e Confrontos: o índio e o branco [Contacts and Confrontations: The Indigenous and the White Man], at MIS/SP
1996 - Bogotá (Colombia) - Imágenes de Brasil - Coleção Pirelli/Masp de Fotografias [Images of Brazil - Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection], at Casa do Brasil
1996 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Imágenes de Brasil - Coleção Pirelli/Masp de Fotografias [Images of Brazil - Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection], at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
1996 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Imágenes de Brasil - Coleção Pirelli/Masp de Fotografias [Images of Brazil - Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection], at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Mostra do Redescobrimento [Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition], at Fundação Bienal
2000 - Valencia (Spain) - De la Antropofagia a Brasilia: Brasil 1920-1950 [From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950], at IVAM - Centre Julio González
2002 - São Paulo SP - Da Antropofagia a Brasília: Brasil 1920-1950 [From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950], at MAB/Faap
Source: Itaú Cultural
