Long overshadowed by his contemporaries, Roger Schall (1904–1995) is finally returning to the spotlight. Following two exhibitions in Paris and Le Havre dedicated to the legendary ocean liner Normandie, and the release of a first monograph – Roger Schall, Un Précurseur (Le Bec en l’Air Editions) – the year 2025 promises to retrace the career of a photographer as discreet as he was influential. Behind his elegant compositions lies a pioneer of modern photography, a witness to both the light moments and the dark hours of the 20th century.
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Inventing the Modern Image
Born in 1904 in Nancy into a family of photographers, Roger Schall learned the craft as a teenager under the guidance of his father Émile. He took his first outdoor shots in Les Sables-d’Olonne, where the family had settled during the war.
In 1925, during his military service, he joined the French Army’s photographic unit in Lebanon. Upon his return, acquiring a Leica and later a Rolleiflex marked a turning point: Roger Schall left the studio behind to capture life as it happened. Paris became his playground for experimentation.
His spontaneous approach, influenced by the New Vision movement born from Bauhaus principles, would stay with him forever. Roger Schall elevated photography to a full-fledged art form. Daring framing and bold compositional choices conveyed a tender and poetic view of the world.
Image after image, photography moved beyond its purely representational and documentary function, becoming a vehicle for a personal vision. Oblique angles, close-ups, and bird’s-eye views characterize Roger Schall’s perspective. The formal and technical quality of his work always served his message. In moments of lightness and solemnity alike, Schall remained a witness to beauty and simplicity, and a pioneer of humanist photography.
A Visionary Photojournalist
In 1931 in Montmartre, he co-founded with his brother Raymond the Schall Frères studio, later known as Schall Presse agency. Forerunners of the major international agency model, they worked with Vu, Life, and Paris Match to document the interwar period.
Schall Presse offered photography new recognition and contributed to the rise of the illustrated press. With Roger behind the lens, Raymond was able to gradually focus on publishing books and photographic collections—many titles would mark this uninterrupted family collaboration.
By 1932, his photographs were catching the press’s attention. Impressed, Lucien Vogel assigned him a report on the construction of the Normandie for Vu. Once the shipyard was completed, Roger Schall covered the liner’s maiden voyage in 1935. He was the only accredited photographer on board and shared his cabin with writer Blaise Cendrars.
Ship chimneys, the lavish décor of this French Art Deco jewel, and the festive life on board—Roger Schall deftly captured the opulence and unique atmosphere of this legendary crossing.
Normandie is Paris and France distilled into a floating capital of all our magnificence.
Roger Schall
Having reached New York in record time, Roger Schall shot a New York photo essay capturing the city’s lights. There, he extended what he had begun under the Parisian streetlamps and cabarets, in a style reminiscent of Brassaï.
A Witness to History in Motion
One of the most active photographers of the interwar period, Roger Schall navigated the 1930s with elegance and insight. Anonymous Parisians and vacationing socialites were photographed with equal care. Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Gabrielle Chanel, Matisse, and Marlene Dietrich—the avant-garde and the famous alike stood before his lens.
Thanks to the Schall brothers, fashion left the studio and took to the streets, in Paris and beyond. Elegance and freedom were captured from Deauville to Megève, via Cap d’Antibes.
In 1937 he documented the world’s fair, but by 1939, general mobilization forced Schall Presse to close its doors. Roger Schall did not give up photography and covered major events of the era: the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Nazi rallies in Nuremberg—events later featured in a special issue of Match.
Roger Schall would become one of the very few photographers to document Paris under the Occupation. Often working covertly, his reportage is sincere and free from sensationalism.
After Liberation, these images gained new significance: À Paris sous la botte des nazis, published in 1944 by Jean Eparvier with Raymond Schall Editions, featured photos by Roger Schall, Maurice Jarnoux, Robert Doisneau, and others. Prefaced by de Gaulle, the book received widespread attention.
The Grace of Joyful Days
The shadow of war fades, and Paris rediscovers its zest for life. Consumption resumes in full swing, and fashion advertising commissions encourage photographers to get creative.
Roger Schall collaborates with luxury houses. Hermès, Dior, Lanvin, and Van Cleef & Arpels eagerly sought his work. His pure and sophisticated images, always built around carefully crafted lighting, contributed to his clients’ success.
To his studio’s meticulous compositions, he adds the spontaneity of outdoor shots bathed in natural light. Now recognized as an art photographer, Roger Schall continues to capture the rhythm of his time, from fashion shows to horse races—not to mention current events.
In 1949, he joined Colette in Morocco to cover the royal wedding of the sons of Pasha El Glaoui. On site, moving away from the palace’s splendor, Roger Schall captured the fortifications and the everyday life of the French Foreign Legion.
Rediscovery
With more than 80,000 photographs taken up through the 1970s, Roger Schall remains one of the most prolific photographers of his generation. His rich and distinctive body of work reflects a vision both humanist and poetic of the world.
Since 2022, Cécile Schall, Roger Schall’s granddaughter, along with his great-grandson, have been bringing his work to light from a family-held archive. Through the Schall Collection, they aim to preserve his legacy and restore his rightful place in the history of photography, while also offering the public the opportunity to purchase prints.
From Paris to Le Havre, the recent exhibition Revoir Normandie allowed the public to rediscover his images. A selection of prints and contact sheets remains on display in Le Havre until September 21 at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art (MuMa) as part of the exhibition Ocean Liners 1913–1942: A Transatlantic Aesthetic.
To mark the centenary of the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, Roger Schall’s name will once again make headlines. Several of his prints will be on display starting October 21, 2025 at the Museum of Decorative Arts, in what is already shaping up to be one of the year’s must-see exhibitions.
You can find this photographer spotlight in Revue EPIC #16
For further reading, discover the monograph Roger Schall, Un Précurseur published by Le Bec en l’Air (€44).
