The first edition of the Robert Delpire Book Prize 2023 was unanimously awarded to Dolorès Marat.
Organised every 3 years by the Neuf Cinq donation fund (see below), the aim of the Robert Delpire Book Prize is to support an authentic work, a personal expression “of what he sees, not a mere observation” (quote Robert Delpire – Le montreur d’images). It offers the winner a €10,000 grant to complete and perfect his or her work, as well as the production of the book – published by delpire & co – accompanied by an exhibition in an institution.
Born in 1944 to a peasant mother and an unknown father, Dolorès Marat began working as a potter and clay maker, before being hired by photographer Claude Froissard to do housework in his shop in Sucy-en-Brie. She became his apprentice and learned the basics of the trade: developing, printing, retouching. She produced wedding reports, identity portraits and sold photographic equipment. In 1969, she joined the black and white photographic laboratory of L’Oréal’s Votre Beauté magazine in Paris. As a laboratory assistant and printer, she worked on commissions for major names such as Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton, Jeanloup Sieff and Sarah Moon. From 1985, she shot product photography and portraits for the magazine. In 1983, at the age of 39, she began her own photographic practice, adopting the Fresson process for her prints. She left Votre Beauté in 1995 to devote herself to photography, taking on commissions from brands, newspapers and magazines. After discovering New York on a commission, she travelled back and forth for 7 years; her work was exhibited at the Aperture gallery in 1996, then at the Witkin Gallery in 1998. Having settled in Provence in 2011, in 2014 she discovered fine art printing with pigment ink on Japanese paper at the SHL studio in Arles.
Since 1985, Dolorès Marat’s work has been regularly exhibited in France and abroad, including this summer’s Rencontres d’Arles, and has been the subject of several books, all out of print. The Photo Poche devoted to her was published in 2023.
The Neuf Cinq donation fund was created in 2022 by Sarah Moon and Michel Christolhomme, in accordance with the wishes of Robert Delpire and Sarah Moon, to promote photography and the image, and to preserve and bring to life the works of Sarah Moon and the heritage of Robert Delpire, whose archives it preserves.
Alternating with the book prize, it awards a €10,000 grant for social photography.
The jury for this first edition was made up of 8 figures from the world of the arts. It will be renewed for each edition.
The members of the jury – 2023 edition :
-Sarah Moon – President of the Jury
-Quentin Bajac – Director of the Jeu de Paume, Paris
-Anouk Grinberg – Actress, painter and writer
-Magali Jauffret – Journalist
-Wajdi Mouawad – Director of the Théâtre national de la Colline
-Philippe Rousselot – Chief Operator
-Natacha Wolinski – Journalist
-Emmanuelle Kouchner – Director of delpire & co
