In the first half of the twentieth century France, after Germany, was a major publisher of picture magazines, including Paris-Soir, Le Monde-Illustré, Art et Décoration, Art et Médecine, l’Illustration, La Gazette, Le Jardin des Modes, Candide, Gringoire, Détective, Voilà, Marianne, Faits Divers, Sourire, Photo-Monde, Regards, Ce Soir, Vu,[1] Partout-Paris, Paris-Magazine, Paris Sex-Appeal and Paris Match.
So much so that the favour which Niépce’s invention enjoys today “comes from elsewhere,” from these “Germans and their neighbours in Central Europe now held to be the best photographers in the world”, who “invaded France, suffocating our poor colleagues”.
[7]The founding members in 1937 were photographers based then in Paris;[4] Sougez explained the origin of the name of the group in June 1938, a year after its birth, in an article in Photo-Illustrations:[10] "A few isolated people meet around the same ideas, a common love of their profession.
A preliminary manifesto, published in 1938 for its first Salon, defined the new association:"A group of notable practitioners, organised to ensure, at the same time as first-class productions, the defence and dissemination of photography.
Driven by a rare fraternal solidarity, this group of yet independent units presents itself as a coherent block within which meetings and demonstrations provoke a continuous renewal of the spirit of creation.
Marcel Arthaud took the initiative in this period of war to create "a small mutual aid service to help out comrades, momentarily short of a product or an essential equipment".
[9] In August 1944, Paris was liberated, but for some, Louis Caillaud, Rémy Duval, André Vigneau, and René Zuber,[26] their career had come to an end, while the photographic profession itself took some time to return to full activity.
Their biography is singularly silent about this period," in contrast to the Keystone agency, led by Hungarian Jews the Garai brothers, which pursued quality work in the service of the Resistance and allies.
Internal rules were drawn up based on those of Le Rectangle with admissions also made on the proposal of the members of the group, not on official candidacy, and decided by secret ballot, and like its predecessor it was a collegial circle; "each member," wrote Garban, 'formally undertakes to respect the spirit of loyalty and frankness which is the very basis of the group'[29] On November 8, 1946, Julien Cain, general administrator, inaugurated the first National Salon of Photography at the National Library, in the Mansart gallery.