Carnet de Voyages: Frank Horvat, a wide-angle view of the world

On 21 October last, the world of photography lost Frank Horvat. A few weeks earlier, the man who had been a photojournalist and then a fashion photographer for most of the major international magazines, was travelling through his own Carnet de Voyages with Voyages d'Affaires.
By Serge Barret -
Frank Horvat © Mlle Ben Saïd

"It was through my love affairs as a very young man that I found myself in MilanI went to Paris, where I worked in advertising. Then, in the 50s, it was Paris and my meeting with Cartier-Bresson which led me to the realising my dreamto become a photographer. I realised at the time that I wasn't cut out for just any job, that I needed to invest myself fully, intimately, in a professional life. Photographing all over the world seemed to me to be the right thing to do. a vocationnot as a profession. A vocation as an explorer, a kind of Christopher Columbus.

So in 1952, I went to the Pakistanat the invitation of the ambassador of this brand new country, who wanted to show it to the world through photography. Flying was far too expensive at the time, so I travelled to Karachi by cargo ship from the port of Trieste. It was quite an adventure, culminating in a two-year stay in Pakistan where, in fact, I only met other Europeans on very rare occasions. A truly immersive experience.

I had my photos developed by the one and only printer I could find on the spot, and then I sent the prints to European magazines. On my return, my identity as a photojournalist had asserted itself. My close contact with Pakistani communities has enabled me to show scenes of daily life that are quite unexpected to Europeans.

But it's still theIndia that made the biggest impression on me. The atmosphere, the contrasts, the streets, the parties, the situations... More than just a country, it's a real civilisation that you discover over there, and that's great! what captivated and caught my eye. I haven't been back there since the 80s and I wonder what I'd think of it today. In a completely different genre, I loved - and still love - New York. Like a great love, in fact. Like a companion to whom I've returned all my life. Over and over again.

My work is my escape. My profession is travel, where the trivial is as much a subject as the exotic. Above all else, I want to understand the society I'm discovering. The best encounters I've had have been when I've been able to interact with others. Through language, of course, but also through facial expressions, hand expressions, and sometimes even through drawing. I wander around the places where people live: markets, shops, gardens, zoos...

I'm always in search of an image that offers a discrepancyIt's like a contradiction, something that leads to several readings and can be surprising in its associations of ideas. I immerse myself, as it were. I blend into the landscape. That's why I don't have a great passion for luxury hotels. I need a bit of distance, the very distance that allows me to feel good about people.

KEY DATES

      • 1928: Born in Abbazia, Italy (now Croatia).
      • 1950: Arrives in Paris and meets Henri Cartier-Bresson.
      • 1952: Lives in India and Pakistan and begins his career as a reporter-photographer.
      • 1957: Starts work as a fashion photographer and moves to Paris.
      • 1990: First digital projects.
      • 1998: First website.
      • 2011: Creation of the Horvatland app for iPad.
      • 21 October 2020: Frank Horvat dies in Paris.

NEWS

      • Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau de Gentilly "Frank Horvat : Paris, 1950s", from 2 October 2020 to 10 January 2021.
      • Publication in October of the book "Sidewalk", an extract from Frank Horvat's Diary of NY. Published by EXB / Xavier Barral.
      • In 2021, "Frank and his collection" at the MAMM in Moscow and "London-Paris" at the Spademan Gallery in London.

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