Original photograph by Germaine Kanova of London of the French dancer and choreographer in costume and stage makeup, leaning on a stair rail backstage, signed in blue ink in the lower margin "Roland Petit" and signed in pencil by the photographer at lower right. Kanova's studio stamp ("Germaine Kanova, Photographic Studio, 60, Baker Street, London W.1") to verso, together with a pencil note, "Roland Petit (opera)." Light offsetting to verso, else fine. 4.75 x 6.25 inches; 12 x 16 cm. From the autograph collection of Hélène de Poutiloff, who was active in the French Resistance before emigrating to the US in 1953.
Petit founded Les Ballets des Champs-Élysées in 1945 and Les Ballets de Paris in 1948, and was married for fifty-seven years to the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire.
Germaine Kanova was a war photographer and portraitist who documented the Liberation of France and the aftermath of the Holocaust, later becoming a key yet forgotten figure in 20th-century photography. In London, Kanova gained recognition for her dramatic use of lighting and composed portraits of figures such as George Bernard Shaw and Irene Vanbrugh. She became involved with the Free French circles, photographing General de Gaulle in 1942 and producing visual propaganda. Her wartime studio also became a training ground for young women photographers, including future artists and Resistance members. Following the Allied landings in Normandy, Kanova returned to France in August 1944. Embedded with French units, she photographed the Liberation of Paris and joined the maquis in southwest France, where she earned the nickname “Miss Caméra.” Kanova continued working as a photographer into the 1950s, capturing portraits of artists, writers, and actors. She later left the profession without explanation, ran a café-cinema in rural France, and spent her final years in Antibes. She died on 27 January 1975 at the age of 72. Her legacy, long overlooked, has recently been rediscovered through exhibitions and archives, revealing her unique role as a woman behind the lens during a critical period in European history.
Original photograph by Germaine Kanova of London of the French dancer and choreographer in costume and stage makeup, leaning on a stair rail backstage, signed in blue ink in the lower margin "Roland Petit" and signed in pencil by the photographer at lower right. Kanova's studio stamp ("Germaine Kanova, Photographic Studio, 60, Baker Street, London W.1") to verso, together with a pencil note, "Roland Petit (opera)." Light offsetting to verso, else fine. 4.75 x 6.25 inches; 12 x 16 cm. From the autograph collection of Hélène de Poutiloff, who was active in the French Resistance before emigrating to the US in 1953.
Petit founded Les Ballets des Champs-Élysées in 1945 and Les Ballets de Paris in 1948, and was married for fifty-seven years to the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire.
Germaine Kanova was a war photographer and portraitist who documented the Liberation of France and the aftermath of the Holocaust, later becoming a key yet forgotten figure in 20th-century photography. In London, Kanova gained recognition for her dramatic use of lighting and composed portraits of figures such as George Bernard Shaw and Irene Vanbrugh. She became involved with the Free French circles, photographing General de Gaulle in 1942 and producing visual propaganda. Her wartime studio also became a training ground for young women photographers, including future artists and Resistance members. Following the Allied landings in Normandy, Kanova returned to France in August 1944. Embedded with French units, she photographed the Liberation of Paris and joined the maquis in southwest France, where she earned the nickname “Miss Caméra.” Kanova continued working as a photographer into the 1950s, capturing portraits of artists, writers, and actors. She later left the profession without explanation, ran a café-cinema in rural France, and spent her final years in Antibes. She died on 27 January 1975 at the age of 72. Her legacy, long overlooked, has recently been rediscovered through exhibitions and archives, revealing her unique role as a woman behind the lens during a critical period in European history.