Todd Webb

After working as a war photographer during World War II, American photographer Todd Webb (1905–2000) decided to make his career in the profession. After several years photographing New York City—socializing with Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Berenice Abbott and Minor White—he moved to Paris in the late 1940s and made his first negatives with an 8×10 camera. He quickly found himself having the time of his life—mingling with other artists such as Gordon Parks, Man Ray and Brassaï. In his journal, Webb often worried about money and whether he could make it in Paris, but he persevered. This publication includes never-before-published excerpts from Webb's journals and showcases the pictures Webb shot from 1948 to 1952 as he, inspired in part by the work of Eugène Atget, took to the streets to make a personal, beautiful and lasting record of postwar Paris.