Lucien Hervé

Lucien Hervé (born as  László Elkán) was a French photographer of Hungarian origin. He arrived in Paris in 1929. Originally attracted by painting, music and fashion, he began to photograph in 1938 for Marianne Magazine. As a youngster, Hervé was active as a militant for the communist party. After his escape in 1940 from the Hohenstein prison camp, he joined the resistance under the pseudonym Lucien Hervé. The career of Hervé took a decisive turn after his first encounter with the architect Le Corbusier in 1949. Hervé became the official photographer of the latter until his passing-away in 1965.

Hervé is acknowledged as one of the most important architectural photographers. Besides his collaboration with Le Corbusier, he also worked with Alvar Aalto and Oscar Niemeyer. He is known for his outstanding photographs of Chandigarh (India), Brasilia (Brazil) and Thoronet (France). He was one of the rare photographers to combine a humanist philosophy and outlook with the eye of an architect. His style is characterised by cropped frames, plunging or oblique views and pared-down compositions that tend toward abstraction. In his sixty-year career, numerous publications and international expositions were devoted to him.