Martine Franck

Born in Belgium, Martine Franck grew up in the United States and in England. She studied art history at the University of Madrid and at the École du Louvre in Paris.

In 1963, she went to China, taking her cousin's Leica camera with her, and discovered the joys of documenting other cultures. Returning home via Hong Kong, Cambodia, India, Afghanistan and Turkey, she bought her first camera while on the trip. Once she settled back in France, she worked as a photographic assistant at Time-Life where she developed an individual technique and style. When she decided to devote herself to a career in photography, she chose a field that included very few women at the time. Nevertheless, she managed to carve out a place for herself by concentrating on subjects rarely addressed by her male colleagues such as the environment, women, old age, solidarity and humanitarian issues. For almost fifty years, independent of any aesthetic trends, she built up a personal body of work that was largely dedicated to the human condition throughout the world.

In 1966, Franck met Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose photographs epitomized Magnum's tradition of humanitarian photography. The pair married 4 years later. Aware of the potential impact the union could have on her career, Franck was adamant that she would neither bask in his reflection nor disappear in his shadow and she joined the Vu agency in 1970. Her first solo exhibition was planned for the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London that year. However, when she saw that the invitations were embossed with the information that her husband would be present at the launch, she cancelled the show. She would not see a solo exhibition until 1998 at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. With Vu's demise, Franck co-founded the Viva agency in 1972. It also collapsed and it was not until 1980 that Franck joined Magnum, becoming a full member in 1983. She was one of the few women to be accepted into the agency and served as vice-president from 1998 to 2000. Eschewing the war/human tragedy reportage that characterized Magnum's reputation, Franck continued her projects on marginal or isolated lives throughout the rest of her life.

Franck was also well-known for her portraiture, notably images of artists Marc Chagall, Balthus and of Cartier-Bresson.

Later in her career, she preserved her husband’s legacy as cofounder and president of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris. Franck was made a knight in France’s Legion of Honour in 2005.