Chronology

Born in Paris in 1926, he spent his childhood in Ménilmontant, a neighborhood in Paris

Robert Delpire studied at the Lycée Voltaire where he practiced photography and basketball.

1947: Enrols in medical school, and wears No. 9 on the medical school basketball team (A.S.M.) - five-time French university champion.

1949: He is asked to take over the Maison de la Médecine newsletter, an art magazine for doctors. He teams up with Pierre Faucheux (layout, graphics, printing) and Michel Ragon (choice of authors and texts).
The first issue of NEUF appeared in June 1950, determining his entire approach to publishing.

1955: He created the visual formula for L'Œil magazine, for which he was artistic director for 8 years.

A catalog raisonné of Robert Delpire's work is in preparation and will be published to mark the centenary of his birth in 2026.

In 1958, he published Robert Frank's Les Américains.

In 1963, he opened a gallery at 13, rue de l'Abbaye, in Paris, where he exhibited (often for the first time in Europe) the great names in photography: Smith, Kühn, Sander, Michals, Koudelka, Bourdin... de l’illustration: André François, Savignac, Le Foll, Blechman… and graphic design: Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser, Paul Davis, Push Pin Studios…

At the head of the CNP, he created Photo Poche, the first collection of pocket books devoted to photography, which he continued to direct until his death in 2017.

He initiated television programs: Contacts, based on an idea by William Klein, and One minute for one image, based on an idea by Agnès Varda.

In 2003, he organized the Henri Cartier-Bresson retrospective exhibition, De qui s'agit-il ?, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

In 2009, a retrospective exhibition, Delpire & Cie, was held at the Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles, and at the Maison européenne de la Photographie in Paris. The film Le montreur d'images, a portrait directed by Sarah Moon, is shown at the Rencontres d'Arles and on Arte.

At the same time, he set up the Delpire advertising agency, which handled numerous international accounts as part of the Advico group. As Creative Director, he twice won the Grand Prix de la Publicité (BNP in 1968 and Citroën in 1975).

He has produced several films, including Corps profond by Lalou and Barrère, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, Cassius le Grand and Qui êtes-vous Polly Maggoo by William Klein, winner of the 1967 Jean Vigo prize, as well as numerous advertising films.

In 1967, he directed Flagrants délits, a 30-minute film on the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Robert Delpire and Robert Frank
© D.R.

Logo by Herb Lubalin, 1960

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sarah Moon
and Robert Frank
© Robert Delpire

Jeanloup Sieff, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Delpire, Sarah Moon
and Martine Franck
© D.R

In 1977/78, he conceived and directed the Spécial Photo series for Le Nouvel Observateur.

In July 1982, at the request of French Culture Minister Jack Lang, he founded the Centre National de la Photographie, which he directed until 1996.
At the Palais de Tokyo, then at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild (from 1993), he produced over one hundred and fifty thematic exhibitions (Identités, Botanica, Vanités, etc.) and monographic exhibitions (Irving Penn, Robert Frank, William Klein, etc.), which toured the world.

In 1997, with Michel Christolhomme, he founded Fait & Cause, a gallery specializing in social issues and was its artistic director.

In 2002, he was appointed President of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, created by Martine Franck, Henri Cartier-Bresson and their daughter Mélanie.

His herbariums, to which he has devoted part of his time since the death of his friend André Martin in 1999, are presented in these two exhibitions, as well as at the Château de Chambord, under the title Tant qu'il y aura des feuilles (as long as there are leaves).

In 2012, the Delpire publishing house was acquired by Libella, and became delpire & co in 2020.

Robert Delpire is Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, Médaille d'or des Arts Graphiques, and has won the Prix Nadar several times.

He died in Paris in 2017.