Grace and Fire

Gérard Uféras

Published to mark a major retrospective in 2025, this beautifully curated volume showcases the work of celebrated French photographer Gérard Uféras. With sensitivity and quiet precision, Uféras captures life’s fleeting moments – on stage, at weddings, in crowds – revealing his deep affection for music, theatre, dance and, above all, for people. This collection is a moving tribute to a career devoted to observing humanity with empathy, artistry and grace.

Gérard Uféras first picked up a camera at the age of eight. In 1984 he began to work regularly for the French newspaper Libération, which published many of his photographs and organised the first exhibition of his work. In 1986 he was involved in the creation of the photographers’ agency Vu, while in 1993 at another agency, Rapho, he met Willy Ronis, who, with Henri Cartier-Bresson and André Kertész, was to influence his subsequent work. Another of his great loves was opera and the theatre, resulting in publications and exhibitions such as Un fantôme à l’opéra (on Europe’s greatest opera houses) and Un pas vers les étoiles (on ballet at the Paris Opéra). In 2023 Gérard Uféras was made a chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and his work entered the collections of the Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie (MPP), the home of France’s photographic heritage.