He passed away on October 20th at the age of 72. This former photo director had founded the VU agency and curated numerous exhibitions.
With his fringe and his air of a perpetual teenager, Christian Caujolle left his mark on the world of photography in France for nearly fifty years and played a major role in its recognition. As a journalist and then head of the photo department, he convinced others of the unique perspective photographers could bring, far beyond a mere illustrative role. Founder of the VU agency and later the VU gallery, he oversaw the integration of photography into the art world, dedicating books and exhibitions to all kinds of photographers—he detested only one style, the “decorative.” Afflicted with cancer, this passionate educator who called himself an “irreducible journalist” died on Monday, October 20th, in Tarbes, at the age of 72.
Christian Caujolle’s life began with words: a literature enthusiast, this son of a military man, raised on his grandparents’ farm in Ariège, devoured Romain Rolland before the age of 10, then moved on to Rimbaud, Kafka… After his baccalaureate, he went to Toulouse for a preparatory class. It was there that he had a revelation about photography in 1972, when he met an iconic Toulouse photographer: “For me, photography was an exotic travel album. For the first time, I saw framed photos on the wall and discovered Brassaï’s book ‘Paris de Nuit’ [1933]…”