History And Photography – It’s Always Personal with Robert Pledge

Brought to you by:
Newhouse Visual Communications Department (formally MPD) & the Alexia Foundation

Robert Pledge was born in London, UK, in 1942. His family moved to Paris, France, in 1951. A student of West African languages and anthropology and a jazz practitioner, he found his way into journalism and photography as a specialist of African affairs. In 1976, with a small group of highly talented photographers of various nationalities, he co-founded in New York Contact Press Images, often de ned as the boutique agency.

He has curated photographic exhibitions throughout the world and sat on major international juries. He has edited acclaimed books including Red-Color News Soldier with Chinese Cultural Revolution photographer Li Zhensheng; 44 Days: Iran and the Remaking of the World with American photographer David Burnett; Don McCullin: The impossible Peace with the British war photographer; Quelque part en France (Somewhere in France) with never-before published photographs by the late picture-editor John G. Morris taken in 1944 in Normandy, shortly after D-Day.

He is a former president and currently a member of the Board of Trustees of ‘The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund’, and the President of the Board of Trustees of the ‘Donation Catherine Leroy’ Fund.

He commutes between New York and Paris and is a frequent visitor to China and other countries.

Please contact Mike Davis, mdavis@syr.edu for additional assistance or information.