Le Groupe des XV

Le Groupe des XV was a collective founded in 1946 by fifteen (hence its name) French humanist photographers who exhibited annually in Paris until 1957. Its objective was to have photography recognised as an art form in its own right, and to use it to preserve French photographic heritage.

The group members were;

Marcel Amson

Jean Marie Auradon,

Marcel Bovis

Louis Caillaud

Yvonne Chevallier

Jean Dieuzaide

Robert Doisneau

André Garban

Édith Gérin

René-Jacques (René Giton)

Pierre Jahan

Henri Lacheroy

Therese Le Prat

Lucien Lorelle

Daniel Masclet

Philippe Pottier

Willy Ronis

Jean Séeberger

René Servant

Emmanuel Sougez

François Tuefferd.

Annual exhibitions of their work were organised by André Garban, assisted in the background by Emmanuel Sougez founder in 1937 of the group "Rectangle”, another Parisian photographer association active until all professional organisations were dissolved during the Occupation under Vichy rule. Several of the Le Groupe des XV members had formerly been in Rectangle and in 1946. They regarded themselves as confreres who had a common interest in artistic photography, naming the group “by analogy with the spirit of team and the sports camaraderie that animates rugby clubs” The group's manifesto echoes that of Rectangle, providing a continuum between the 1930s and the immediate post-war: "loving above all their profession, animated by the same faith and eager to endow photographic art of quality works, each [...] member formally commits himself to respect the spirit of loyalty, frankness and mutual assistance which is the very basis of the grouping”. They espoused "Respect for process! - Real photography - The perfect negative - And if possible, no retouching; that ‘maid of all work’ to the bad photographer! No blur either; such a "myopic style"! And as much as possible new ideas, new angles, originality [...]. Our tradition: Hill, Nadar, Atget, Weston, Cartier-Bresson. "

All members were professionals in both their motivation and in deriving their income from commissions with the magazines Plaisir de France and  Réalités favouring their work during the boom in pictorial magazines. The man chronicler of the Groupe, Marcel Bovis, in particular, was concerned with the status of his practice; “At a time when the profession of photographer-illustrator is classed with manufacturers of funerary wreaths, it is above all a question of asserting the notion of profession by a demanding conception of photography in all fields “ 1947 was a period in which professional organisations and the place of the arts and crafts within them was being reassessed, Le Groupe des XV also created, as an annex to the group, the Society of Illustrators and Authors Photographers: the SIAP. This company administered by the XV replaces the Artisanal Professional Groups of the 1940s, enforcing copyright and reproduction, the code ethics and pricing, without forgetting "to create between its members links of confraternity”

For their annual exhibitions, for Le Groupe des XV Garban secured venues at the "Pascaud Gallery", boulevard Haussmann, at the "Cercle de la Librairie", boulevard Saint-Germain or the "Mirador Gallery", Place Vendôme, as well as offering his own portrait studio, rue Bourdaloue for meetings. From 1946 he established the "National Exhibition of Photography" in the "Mansart Gallery" of the National Library.

The group had in common an interest in documenting the life of the street as a representation of French culture and valued the contribution of Surrealism and of the New Objectivity to their imagery, but rejected Pictorialism. Consequently, among them were major contributors to French Humanist photography.