Willy Ronis, La Chevelure, Paris, 1990. Gelatin silver print, 15 x 11 inches (38.1 x 27.9 cm). Signed, titled, dated, stamped and annotated.

“It is my contemporaries who most interest me, ordinary people with ordinary lives...I have never sought out the extraordinary or the scoop. I looked at what complemented my life. The beauty of the ordinary was always the source of my greatest emotions.” - Willy Ronis [The New York Times, 2005]

Born in Paris in 1910, Willy Ronis was thrown into the photography business when his father was diagnosed with cancer, and Ronis had to take over his photography studio. This launched lifelong career in photography for Ronis, who would become the first French photographer to work for LIFE Magazine.

In 1951, Edward Steichen organized an exhibition that included Ronis' work as well as the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Izis and Brassai. The MoMA exhibition, entitled “Five French Photographers,” was widely praised and helped expand Ronis' audience in the United States. Ronis also took part in Steichen's famous"Family of Man" exhibit.

Ronis died in 2009 in Paris at the age of 99.