From 9 October 2025 to 8 March 2026 at the mahJ

For the first retrospective in Paris dedicated to Denise Bellon (1902–1999), the mahJ is presenting nearly 300 photographs, objects, letters and publications by this pioneer of photojournalism and companion of the Surrealists. Born in Paris into a Jewish family originally from Alsace and Germany, Denise Hulmann helped found Alliance-Photo, the first photographic agency of the interwar period. She managed to conceal her Jewish identity in Lyon during the Second World War, continuing her artistic activity. As a result, she left behind a remarkable collection of images of the city under the Occupation. At the end of 1944, the photographer covered the Spanish Republican maquis retreating to the Aude region for Midi Libre. A year later, she produced a report in Moissac on the Maison des Éclaireurs Israélites, which was a refuge for Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Denise Bellon. Un regard vagabond | Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme