How did you become a photographer? Would you define yourself as a one?

Yes, I would define myself as a photographer. Evan as a child, I took photographs. My first pictures date from 1935 and I still have them. My mother took me to a lot of exhibitions, and my father was a chemical engineer. I got a lot from this pleasant combination. I was very manual and passionate about art. Later on, when it came to deciding what I was going to do in life, since I liked photography and also handling chemical substances, I decided to go to Geneva in 1942 to do an apprenticeship at the Boissonnas studio which was celebrating its 80th anniversary at the time. I completed a three-year apprenticeship before opening my own studio in Geneva and then moving to Paris in 1946. At the beginning I had a beautiful 13×18 mahogany Thornton-Pickard camera in my studio in Geneva. This great mastery of technique as well as a certain creativity allowed me to work in many fields: portraits, still life, fashion, reportage and advertising, along with more personal work.

What drives you as a photographer?

I have never been driven by one thing in particular other than finishing what I started. That’s always been an obsession of mine. I was also determined to be successful in all the assignments I undertook. When I worked on advertising photo shoots, I chose the sets myself and really took things seriously. In my personal work, my commitment lays in the interest I had in seeing everything around me, in documenting it all and in letting myself be surprised by people, by what was going on in the street and all around me.

Do you think there is such a thing as a ‘woman’s gaze’ in photography? Is this something you can relate to?

I was very sensitive to poverty, to children and people in need. I probably had a more compassionate way of looking at things.

Has being a woman influenced your work as an artist in any way?

That’s a difficult question to answer. I consider myself to be more of an artisan than an artist. My husband was a painter, he was the one who needed to exhibit his work. In my life, I’ve never really chased after glory…

Do you live off your art?

Yes.

Which authors have inspired you? Are there any women photographers among them?

Painting has inspired me most in my life: Chardin, Goya and the diversity of his work. I like Jane-Evelyne Atwood’s work very much. I knew Florence Henri, Denis Colomb and Janine Niepce well.