Jacques Lartigue

French painter and photographer Jacques Lartigue was born into a wealthy family and was given a Brownie camera when he was seven. From the early beginning he did informal shots of everyday subjects. He enthusiastically photographed automobile races, fashionable ladies at the seashore and the park, and kite flying. In 1912 he succeeded in photographing a passing race car, which is among the earliest photo snapshots in the world. His photographs reveal his free spirit and love of life, rather than a concern for photographic technique and craft, and often captured a sense of movement.

When his work was discovered in the 1960s it was first acclaimed for its departure from formal, posed portraits and for its ingenuous charm and beguiling spontaneity. His pictures were firstly published in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.