Paris: A Love Story

After several years photographing New York City—socializing with Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Berenice Abbott and Minor White—American photographer Todd Webb moved to Paris in the late '40s and made his first negatives with an 8×10 camera. He quickly found himself having the time of his life—mingling with other artists such as Gordon Parks, Man Ray and Brassaï. In his journal, Webb often worried about money and whether he could make it in Paris, but he persevered.

‘Paris: A Love Story 1948-1952’ includes never-before-published excerpts from Webb's journal and showcases 70 black and white photographs that Webb shot from 1949 to 1952 as he, in part inspired by the work of Eugène Atget, took to the streets to make a personal, beautiful and lasting record of postwar Paris.

Edited by Bill Shapiro (former editor of LIFE magazine) and enriched by an exclusive interview with photography historian Keith Davis, the volume reveals the depth, humanity, and sensitivity of an artist who always photographed with respect, patience, and poetry—and therefore, perhaps because of this, it has taken time for him to be truly understood.