Light Penetrating the Himalayas ▎World-Renowned Photographer Marc Riboud

Marc Riboud (1923-2016)  
Renowned French Photographer  

Many of the classic moments he captured became epitomes of the 20th century. He twice received the Overseas Press Club Award, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Sony World Photography Awards, and held major retrospectives at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris and the International Center of Photography in New York. In 1998, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society.  

Over his 60-year career, he traveled across the world, with a particular focus on Asia, spending extended periods in China, Vietnam, Ghana, Nigeria, Cuba, and other regions. He first visited China in 1957 and returned more than twenty times, maintaining a connection with the country for over half a century and witnessing the tremendous changes in Chinese society. He is regarded as a master of documentary photography who influenced a generation in China.  

His photographs were frequently published in magazines such as *Life*, *Geo*, *National Geographic*, and *Paris Match*. His published works include: *Visions of the East*, *The Silent Parole*, *I Dream of Imagination*, *Tibetans*, *Timeless Moments: Marc Riboud in Leeds, 1954–2004*, *Huang Shan*, *Tomorrow’s Shanghai*, and *Three Banners of China*, among other photography collections. His works have been exhibited worldwide, making him one of the few photographers celebrated across the globe.

Tibet ▎ Marc Riboud, 19

Photography: The Liberation of the Silent Self

Marc Riboud was born in Saint-Genis-Laval, near Lyon, France. The fifth of seven children in a large family, he was shy and soft-spoken from a young age, not considered the most outstanding child in the household. He once reflected on his childhood: "The older members of the family were very clever, eloquent, and always surrounded by many friends, while I simply couldn’t bring myself to speak. At home, I was known as the silent one."  

On his 14th birthday, his father gave him a Kodak camera, which opened the door to photography for Marc Riboud. His first photograph was taken at the 1937 Paris Exposition. After World War II, in 1948, Riboud graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the École Centrale de Lyon and found work at a factory in the nearby town of Villeurbanne.  

It wasn’t until 1951, when he was photographing a cultural festival in Lyon, that he finally decided to devote himself to freelance photography. He moved to Paris in 1952. There, he met his mentor, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was already a renowned figure in the world of photography.

Marc Riboud (center) and Cartier-Bresson (right)

"I really enjoyed walking alone on the streets, observing everything happening in daily life. Later, I learned the word 'vision' from Cartier-Bresson! He always said that some people spend their whole lives striving to become subjects of vision—we need to open our hearts to see the world. To me, Cartier-Bresson was like a 'beneficial tyrant.' He would recommend which books to read, which museums and galleries to visit. He taught me the art of living and photography. 'Good photography' depends on 'good composition.'"

"Joy on the Eiffel Tower"

In 1953, Riboud's *The Painter of the Eiffel Tower*, taken in Paris, drew significant attention in the photography world. The work depicts a painter perched between the structures of the Eiffel Tower, striking a dancer-like pose, with Paris faintly emerging through the haze below. More than fifty years later, in a radio interview, he still remembered the English title given to this image by a writer at *Life* magazine: "Joy on the Eiffel Tower."

"The Painter of the Eiffel Tower" Paris 1953

"The camera, for me, is like a protective shield. It gives me the courage to capture things I might otherwise be too hesitant to observe directly. When I raise the camera to my eye, the tension of being watched by others disappears. When people are unaware they are being photographed, the images feel more natural. I am not a professional photojournalist, nor an artist, but I take great pleasure in exploring new visual experiments."  

Later, invited by Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa, Riboud joined Magnum Photos and embarked on his adventures in the Far East. In 1955, he drove through Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, eventually reaching Calcutta, where he lived for a year.

Marc Riboud in His Youth

Over twenty visits to China

In 1957, he visited China for the first time, becoming the first Western photographer granted permission to shoot in the country. Later, he was invited multiple times by Premier Zhou Enlai and went on to visit China over twenty times. He once remarked that he had wandered along Beijing's Wangfujing Street more often than the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Traveling across much of China, he documented the development and transformation of an era, leaving behind a precious historical archive.

Snow in the Forbidden City, 1957

Beijing, 1957

"I found myself feeling closer to the Chinese people than to the Japanese. In Japan, everything—cars, houses, shops—looks much like the environment in the West, and being around a Japanese person felt unfamiliar to me. But in China, after spending half a day with a Chinese man or woman who spoke French or English, we would become friends, thanks to our shared sense of humor.  

China possesses a great culture—its way of thinking, lifestyle, food, everything is different from the West. But today, as China modernizes, it is also gradually Westernizing. China is transforming from the geographical 'Far East' into a cultural 'Far West'."

Shaanxi, 1957

Inner Mongolia, 1965

Colorful Tibet: Resonance of Time and Space

In 1985, Marc Riboud embarked on a journey to the "Roof of the World." In Tibet, he captured the local daily life and cultural landscapes. A single image often blended portraiture, clothing, scenery, architecture, and religious faith. These works, among his rare ventures into color photography, were included in the photo book *Tibetans*. These photographs have become precious memories of the Tibetan people, continuing to resonate across time and space.

Mount Everest in the Morning Light, 1985

Inside the Potala Palace, 1985

Mandala, Tibet, 1985

"My wife and I, along with a group of friends, traveled to Tibet. I was deeply astonished by the light there—the moonlight was so clear, without even a hint of haze. Due to the high altitude, I spent two weeks photographing the people and landscapes. I never regretted using color film, because I had never seen such radiant light before."

Tibet, 1985

To live is to discover the world.

Throughout his over 60-year photography career, Marc Riboud documented life with his keen visual sensibility. He once said that he took pictures in life, and life itself means: discovering the world. One of his legendary photographs, "Guns and Flowers," became an iconic work, visually representing the contrast between war and tenderness, and symbolizing a generation's struggle for peace.

"Guns and Flowers" Washington D.C., 1967

Cartier-Bresson once said of him: "He was a born geometer, with a natural 'compass' in his eyes"—a tribute to his artistry in framing.  

"To observe more deeply, it is meaningless to immerse yourself in a role. You don’t need to become a monk to photograph Tibet; you only need to remain faithful to your own observation. For me, photography is not just a profession, but an almost obsessive passion, a momentary intuition and instinct."

Foot of the Himalayas, 1985

"If I gradually lose the ability to appreciate life,  
my photographs will fade along with it,  
because taking pictures is to savor life profoundly—  
every hundredth of a second."  

— Marc Riboud