[1] Born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in 1931, Jacques was the son of architect André Pavlovsky and Yvonne Longi.
[2] After serving in the Algerian War, he moved to Paris and joined the Rapho news agency, directed by Raymond Grosset [fr].
During this time, he began to pursue press photography within the agency, covering French politics, May 68, the death of Charles de Gaulle, and the election of Georges Pompidou.
[citation needed] In April 1974, Pavlovsky joined the Sygma photo agency at the invitation of Hubert Henrotte [fr].
He notably reported on the Fall of Saigon,[3] the death of Francisco Franco, the accession of Juan Carlos I, the inauguration of Saddam Hussein,[4] and the Iran–Iraq War.