French-speaking Swiss photographer Monique Jacot dies at almost 90
Published: Thursday, Aug 8th 2024, 11:40
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The French-speaking Swiss photographer Monique Jacot has died shortly before her 90th birthday. Her family announced the news on Thursday. In 2020, the Federal Office of Culture honored her with the Swiss Grand Prix Design. Jacot is currently being exhibited in Venice.
Monique Jacot was born in Neuchâtel in August 1934. After attending arts and crafts school in Vevey, she made a name for herself in photojournalism between 1950 and 1980. Jacot worked for both the Swiss and foreign press, including "Schweizer Illustrierte", "l'Illustré", "Vogue", "Du", "Elle", "Geo" and the "Times".
Her humanistic images bear witness to her openness and sensitivity. With several series about factory workers, rural women and feminist demonstrations, including the women's strike of 1991, she bears witness to the living conditions of women.
As a great traveler, Monique Jacot also talks about the world. In the 1950s, she roamed California and Nevada, later Egypt, as well as several countries in Asia and Africa. The theme of landscapes also led her from the big wide world back to Switzerland - to the banks of the Doubs.
New experiences
In 1970, Jacot discovered the Polaroid technique for her work. The instant camera offered her a creative freedom that she increasingly preferred to working for the press. She developed a personal visual vocabulary for her photography. She trained as a draughtswoman and also worked with engraving.
In contrast to her politically engaged reportages, her poetic images, which border on abstraction, tend towards contemplation, imagination and dreams. In 2020, she exhibited her heliograms at the Musée Jenisch in Vevey, which are the result of experiments between photogram and heliogravure.
High honors
In addition to the prestigious Grand Prix Design in the photography category, she won several awards, including the Grand Prix 2005 from the Fondation vaudoise pour la promotion et la création artistiques, endowed with 100,000 francs. "This prize will help me to realize many projects," she said at the time.
In 2022, the Museum Photo Elysée at Plateforme 10 in Lausanne dedicated an exhibition to her, which will run until September under the title "Monique Jacot. La figure et ses doubles" at the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice until September.
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