LOS ANGELES, CA.- Henri Dauman, a generational giant, came along to share with us his vision of the world, garnered by an insatiable curiosity about people and life.

Spanning four decades as photojournalist and photographer, Dauman’s images capture powerful cultural and social moments that serve as living testimony to modern America. According to TIME magazine, Dauman created “photos that play like a slideshow of some of the biggest moments in American history and popular culture.” From Brigitte Bardot to the Equal Rights movement of the 60’s, Dauman's iconic imagery defined the 20th century. His oeuvre offered context to an evolving America, depicting key moments when new arts, technology, and social movements emerged, in a time when the worlds of politics and media first started to converge. While on assignment, Dauman captured compelling images of celebrities, musicians, politicians, pop culture icons and a myriad of pivotal moments in history. Dauman’s images graced the pages of LIFE magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek and other international publications for over four decades.

Henri Dauman was born in 1933 in Montmartre, France. His early childhood was plagued by tragedy during World War II with his father perishing in Auschwitz and his mother meeting a premature end shortly thereafter. In the face of extreme adversity, Henri found solace and purpose behind the lens of a camera. Following a photographic apprenticeship at Courbevoie, and experience in entertainment photography at Radio Luxembourg and the Bernand Agency in Paris, Dauman immigrated to New York at the age of 17. Without formal journalism education, Dauman started working for France-Amérique, and expanded his horizons to European publications Paris Match, Jours de France, Epoca, and Stern. Dauman’s work did not go unnoticed by bigger American publications, and in 1959, at the age of 26, he received the first of many assignments commissioned by Life Magazine.

In the years that followed, while tirelessly building his reputation and career as a ‘one man agency’ for some of the most prestigious publications in the world, Henri pursued another life-long dream, to rebuild a family he had lost so young.

On September 13th, 2023, Henri Dauman passed away at the age of 90, survived by beloved family members as well as millions of people who have been touched by his work worldwide. His daughter Brigitte and granddaughter Nicole have embarked on the monumental task of preserving his vast legacy by creating The Henri Dauman Photo Archive, a treasure trove of hundreds of thousands of transparencies and original photos spanning decades of Henri’s photojournalistic and artistic excellence, in which his legacy lives on.

In honor of Henri’s prolific career and extraordinary life, KP Projects Gallery will be unveiling 12 new color and silver gelatin photographs from the archive along with classic images for his newest exhibition. Life, Lens, Legacy. Found while archiving thousands of never-before-seen transparencies and black & white negatives, the discovery of some of these new images reflects a personal point of view outside the confines of photojournalistic assignment. As a master of timing and social reportage, Henri saw things that others could not, capturing images at decisively poignant moments by intuitive timing. We are pleased to share these beautiful new images reflecting personal moments of curious observation and appreciation, mementos of Henri Dauman's enduring vision as an artist, and cultural documentarian.

Dauman’s work has been included in exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, the German Historical Museum in Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Canada, the National Portrait Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C as well as “The Manhattan-Darkroom” comprised of over 200 prints at the Palais d’Iéna in Paris, 2014 ; the Musée Nicéphore-Niépce of Photography in Chalon-sur-Saône, 2017; the Breman Museum, Atlanta, 2018; and the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre in Nice, 2024.

A feature length documentary entitled: “Henri Dauman: Looking Up”, shedding light on the artist’s life story and career debuted in 2020, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.