Riboud's clippings detail his early journeys to China. (Photo by Rory Howard)
French photographer Marc Riboud was one of the first Europeans to enter communist China and document life there during the early period of the People's Republic of China. He revisited the country several times during his long career as a photographer. Some of Riboud's rarely seen works are now being shown at London's Atlas Gallery, revealing an insightful glimpse into China, France, and other countries that he has visited over the years.
Riboud worked as an engineer in the factories of Lyons before becoming a freelance photographer in 1951 and moving to Paris in 1952. His earlier works gained him a place in the Magnum Photos Cooperative with other notable and influential photographers such as Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
His career change from factory worker to photographer gave Riboud the opportunity to travel widely. Riboud visited China in 1957 and photographed the ever-changing society he found around him. Allowed access to the factories, farms and streets of a changing China, Riboud showed the world the personal lives of the people he came across, from the street-side pedestrians to factory workers, soldiers and even Chairman Mao Zedong.
London's Atlas Gallery is the official seller of prints for Magnum Photos in the United Kingdom. The exhibition of Marc Riboud's prints will last until May 9.
