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    Who is Jacques Straesslé ?

    Jacques Straesslé was twenty when Russian tanks swept through the Spring of Prague. The young Parisian recognized in the event the opportunity to capture oppression through his lens. The experience was to leave him exhausted and deeply disappointed. He was not cut out for daily horror. Jacques chose the creative way.

    He founded his own advertising agency and decided to exercise the profession of independent photographer at the same time.

    Miles Davis and Jacques Strasslé

    In 1976 he lay the cornerstone for his grand idea: snap the most prestigious jazzmen of the Montreux Jazz Festival, whom he would immortalise backstage. Straesslé began to fix his subjects on film. The systematic principle of his series fascinated him.

    When they pass before our eyes, his snapshots let an immediate, instantaneous truth show through; a way of revealing his thrilling encounters in good taste that is never cruel.

    Keith HAring in 1983

    Awards:
    Prix Bally 1980
    Prix Nikon 1984
    Prix Jazz, Varsovie 1988
    Prix Polaroïd 1988
    Prix Cully Jazz 1990
    Exhibition:
    Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1983
    Triennale, Fribourg, 1988
    Galerie Nikon, Zürich, 1988
    Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, 1989
    Galerie Capp, Yverdon, 1989


    © Jacques STRAESSLE - Photographer - jstraess@worldcom.ch
    En Budron D5 - 1052 LE MONT, Switzerland