Pierre Zucca

Deposited at the Institut pour la photographie during the summer of 2026, the Pierre Zucca collection consists of nearly 10,000 photographic materials: negatives, contact sheets, silver gelatin prints, slides, etc. It traces Zucca’s career as a photographer from 1956 to 1980.

“From that point on, everything becomes a matter of morality and subjectivity for the photographer: whether his goal is to impose a meaning, to suggest one, or to leave interpretation open, he cannot achieve it without re-staging the event that presents itself to his gaze. Applied to a photograph that claims to be documentary, this observation is as unpleasant as discovering a forged document. But applied to set photography, what could be less troubling?”

Pierre Zucca, “The Photography of Pleasure” in Film Stills, Set Photographs by Pierre Zucca , Paris, Éditions A. Moreau, 1980

In addition to the well-known set and behind-the-scenes photographs from the 1960s and 1970s, the collection includes photographs from the artist’s youth, travel photos, portraits of actors and actresses and directors, press coverage, commissioned work, and more personal projects or those intended for publication.

This collection also includes some paper archives, including the typescript of the text "Photography of Pleasure" , which introduces the book Movie Images - Set photographs by Pierre Zucca published in 1980 by Éditions A. Moreau.

The Institut’s relationship with Pierre Zucca’s work began in 2019 with a project by Aurélien Froment, the winner of the first edition of our Grant for Research and Creation. “Théâtre Optique – photo Zucca” is an original project that led to an exhibition at the Institut in 2021, followed by one at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2023. For the first time, it showcased various aspects of Pierre Zucca’s work, from set photography to his collaboration with the writer Pierre Klossowski.

By acquiring the entire photographic archive of Pierre Zucca, the Institut pour la photographie is continuing the work previously undertaken by the Cinémathèque Française. Since 2005, the Cinémathèque has digitized more than 3,500 set and on-location photographs, which are available in its Film Library.

The deposit of the Pierre Zucca collection at the Institut pour la photographie opens up new avenues for research, dissemination, and education centered on the author’s work and the photographic image.