From September 19th to December 23rd, 2024

For its new exhibition "My Stars - Willy Rizzo," the Patrick Gutknecht gallery is pleased to present twenty-five photographs of cinema personalities immortalized by Willy Rizzo.

Willy Rizzo was born in 1928 in Naples. His family moved to Paris when he was still a child. He showed an early interest in photography and bought his first Rolleiflex at the age of 16. After photographing all the French cinema stars in the studios of Billancourt, Joinville, and Buttes-Chaumont, he was hired in 1945 as a reporter for the magazine Point de Vue. In 1946, he was recruited by the weekly France Dimanche, which specialized in reporting on the private lives of celebrities, and was sent to Cannes to cover the first festival.

In 1947, he went to the United States for the Blackstar agency and discovered California, where he produced numerous reports on Hollywood stars.
In 1949, he learned that Jean Prouvost was launching a new magazine in Paris and returned to France because he wanted to be part of the adventure. Paris Match, with the slogan "The Weight of Words, the Shock of Photos," was launched, and Willy Rizzo signed the first color cover with a photograph of Winston Churchill. During the 1950s, he also worked for prestigious fashion houses like Chanel and Dior. He developed a friendship with Coco Chanel, for whom he created some iconic portraits. In 1959, he became the artistic director of Marie-Claire and collaborated with magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. His photographs of stars, artists, and political figures became iconic.