Claude Nori

In 1974, Claude Nori left Toulouse for Paris, became friend with photographer Bernard Plossu and founded Contrejour, an all at once magazine, publishing house and gallery located in Montparnasse, which quickly became the place of encounters and promotion of the new photography movement.

Claude Nori was among the first to publish author photography books showcasing the work of Guy Le Querrec, Bernard Plossu, Arnaud Claass, Denis Roche, Pierre and Gilles, Sebastião Salgado, Jeanloup Sieff, Gilles Peress, Luigi Ghirri as well as humanists photographers like Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat, Willy Ronis, and Sabine Weiss. After having worked for Vogue and The Daily Telegraph magazine, he published his first personal photography book, entitled Lunettes, in 1976, prefaced by Agnes Varda, and followed by a novel dedicated to the American photographer Donna Ferrato (cs) published by Editions du Seuil, two movies and several other photobiographical books around photographic flirt (in which the camera is used as a go-between), teenage years, Italy and happiness. Claude Nori exhibited in several festivals (Arles, Malmo, Houston, Tokyo, Valencia, Rome, Corigliano, Rio de Janeiro, Coimbra etc.) as well as galleries, and his works are showcased in several collections around the world. In 1984, he took part in the Vaggio in Italia project (exhibition and book) alongside Mimmo Jodice, Luigi Ghirri, Mario Cresci, Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Guido Guidi, and Giovanni Chiaramonte among others.

In 1999, Claudi Nori moved to Biarritz with his wife Isabelle Nori, where he founded a festival named Terre d’Images, as well as the magazine Photo Nouvelles and then Revista, un autre Sud-Ouest in 2003. In June 2011, Claude Nori revived the Contrejour editions. In 2012, La Maison Européenne de la Photographie dedicated a major retrospective exhibition to his work.