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Background information
"In 1947, French photographer Willy RONIS discovered the Belleville-Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris and immediately fell in love. It was a revelation: more than anywhere else, time had stopped here. Between the Buttes-Chaumont and the Père-Lachaise, the photographer stops in workshops, bistros and ballrooms. He passionately examines the alleys, passages, alleys, terraces and backyards. In this popular village overlooking the city, archery, bocce and lunch in the gardens. The ubiquitous vegetation makes residents say that they do not have to take a vacation. Some still get their water from the well. Others take a nap in a meadow. No one is rich, but everyone seems happy. Willy RONIS' warm, picturesque and poetic Belleville-Ménilmontant is an incomparable testimony of a Paris that has disappeared, of a modest and carefree lifestyle.
Content
For this photo volume, 'Belleville Ménilmontant' by Willy RONIS, the writer Didier Daeninckx, moved by his images and having often listened to Willy RONIS reminisce, has come up with the story of a 'man' from Ménilmontant: the man who lived in exile for a long time against his will returns to retrace his steps and makes us rediscover the legend of the neighborhood." (freely translated, © Hoebecke, 2018)
Additional information
The photographic volume 'Belleville Ménilmontant' by Willy RONIS was first published in 1954 and republished in modified form and contemporary design in 1984, 1999 and 2018. The current edition offered here no longer has a dust jacket.