1911 — 1980
Izis, born Israëlis Bidermanas in Paris, was a Lithuanian-Jewish photographer best known for his social and portraiture photography, with which he took a humanist approach. Bidermanas had intended to paint, but began a photography studio in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, before being forced to flee during the occupation. In the years that followed he was arrested by the Nazis, tortured, and freed by the French Resistance.
After the war, a collection titled maquisards, which spotlighted rural guerilla and resistance fighters, was published to great acclaim. In Paris, Bidermanas was friends with other artists including Brassaï and Henri-Cartier Bresson. From 1950, he worked as a photojournalist for the weekly magazine Paris Match. The works of Izis have endured since his death in 1980, and are often noted for the affectionate eye with which he shot his subjects.
