CHICAGO PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FRENCH INTELLECTUALS.

CHICAGO PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FRENCH INTELLECTUALS. Adam Gopnik has an essay in The New Yorker for January 28 which begins, “Earlier this month, France was disrupted by the image of a woman both sexually alive and politically relevant….” He is writing about a photograph on the cover of a major French newsweekly “of Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher and feminist, seen tout ensemble, and from the rear.” Gopnik expresses surprise that that the picture was taken in Chicago (“of all places”) and by an American (“of all people”). Years ago, I got to spend some time with Art Shay, the photographer who took the picture. (Over forty years later, he remains one of the most interesting people I have ever met). Gopnik says that “masculine sexual conceit, of the kind that leads Chicago writers who can’t believe how they’ve lucked out with their French girlfriend” led to the photograph. I think this is unfair to Algren. I believe Art Shay’s story of how the photo came about. Art Shay saw the world with the artist’s eye of a photographer and his camera was usually at hand. Of course, the photo was his idea.