Peter Fetterman Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, Nouvelle Vague, a compelling survey of French photography drawn from some of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century.
Featuring iconic works by Raymond Cauchetier, Edouard Boubat, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Sabine Weiss, and others, Nouvelle Vague honors the enduring legacy of a movement that reshaped visual culture in the aftermath of World War II.
Inspired by the French Humanist movement of the 1930s, these photographers forged a style that straddled realism and lyricism—capturing spontaneous moments, intimate gestures, and everyday life with sensitivity and poetic depth. Positioned between photojournalism and painterly observation, their images offered profound insight into the human condition, celebrating the beauty of ordinary lives with empathy and grace.
French Humanist photography played a role in shaping post-war cinema, literature, and visual arts. Its legacy endures in the contemporary art world, where the movement’s core values—dignity, compassion, and authenticity—remain as resonant and necessary as ever.
The artists featured in this exhibition contributed their emotionally powerful imagery to leading newspapers and magazines of the time. Today, their photographs—recognized for their nostalgic aesthetic and documentary importance, continue to inspire generations of artists, collectors, and institutions worldwide.
Nouvelle Vague reaffirms the power of photography to connect us to our shared humanity, and invites viewers to rediscover these timeless works through the lens of one of photography’s most important cultural movements.
