View source for Vu (magazine)

{{distinguish|text=''VU Mag,'' a periodic publication by [[Agence Vu]]}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Vu'' (magazine)}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title              = VU 
| image_file         = File:Vu (magazine) N°77.JPG
| image_size         = 
| image_caption      = Vu (magazine) N°77 featuring [[Adelaide Hall]]
| founder            = Lucien Vogel
| language           = French
| category           = Photojournalism
| frequency          = Weekly
| editor             = Desfossés - Néogravure1
| founded          = 1928
| finaldate           = 1940
| based            = [[Paris]], France
| website            = 
}}
'''''Vu''''', stylized as '''''VU''''', was a weekly French pictorial magazine, created and directed by Lucien Vogel, which was published from 21 March 1928 to 29 May 1940; it ran for 638 issues.{{Sfn|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}}

==History==
''Vu'' was the first large weekly to systematically feature photographs in essay form, and as such was an important precursor to, and proponent of, the magazine format of [[photojournalism]] (which came to prominence a decade after its print run in magazines such as ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' and ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]''). 

== Innovation ==
Although inspired in part by the German magazine ''[[Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung]]'',{{Sfn|Leenaerts,|2009|p=159}}{{Sfn|Leenaerts,|2010|p=115}} ''VU'' featured a [[constructivism (art)|constructivist]] aesthetic and was innovative in its layouts, especially in its double-page spreads,{{Sfn|Heller & Pomeroy,|1997|p=47}} in which the layout artists were assisted by [[rotogravure]] from film positives of both type and [[halftone]] images which could be easily cut and arranged on a [[Lightbox|light box]], rather than using less flexible and more expensive metal halftone blocks. 

== Photography ==
Notable contributing photographers included  [[Cartier-Bresson]], [[Man Ray]], [[Brassaï]], and [[André Kertész]],{{Sfn|Clark, February 19,|2007|p= }} but the sole staff photographer was the now lesser-known [[Gaston Paris (photographer)|Gaston Paris]] 1933-38 who made around 1,300 photos for the magazine.{{Sfn|Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen|2019|page=}} ''VU'' was particularly advanced in its use of the [[Photo-essay|picture essay]] format.{{Sfn|Heller,|2009|p= }}  ''Vu'' encouraged photographers to use the newly available smaller cameras, the [[Medium format|medium-format]] [[Rolleiflex]] and [[135 film|35mm]] [[Leica Camera|Leica]], with faster lenses, high-speed (100 ASA in 1931) [[Roll film|roll-film]] in high-capacity magazines, and rapid operation, facilitated them in producing striking imagery.{{Sfn|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}}

== Content ==
The magazine published special issues on the [[Soviet Union]] (''VU au pays des Soviets'', 18 November 1931),{{Sfn|Mirsky|1997|p=110}} which was illustrated by Vogel, himself a keen photographer,{{Sfn|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}} on Germany (''L'énigme allemande'', 1932), the ascent of technology (''Fin d'une civilisation'', 1933), China (''Interrogatoire de la Chine'', 1934), and Spain (''VU en Espagne'', 1936).{{Sfn|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}}

In 1931, Vogel founded a companion magazine named ''Lu'' (read), a survey of the foreign press translated into French; this merged with ''Vu'' in March 1937.{{Sfn|Mirsky|1997|p=110}}

== Legacy ==
A major retrospective was hosted by the [[Maison Européenne de la Photographie]] (MEP) in late 2006/early 2007.{{Sfn|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}}

== Selected contributors ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Ida Treat]] ({{italic correction|''née''}} Ida Frances Treat; 1889–1978), correspondent for ''Vu,'' 1930 to 1935. She married three times; first, on June 28, 1916, in Cleveland, to Raymond Newton O'Neil (1887–1957); second, October 31, 1923, in [[Bobigny]], to [[Paul Vaillant-Couturier]] (1882–1937); and third, on September 30, 1939, [[André Bergeret]] [[:fr:André Bergeret|(fr)]] (1904–1966). }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Jean d'Erleigh]] ''aka'' [[Brassaï]] ({{italic correction|''pseudonyms''}} of [[Gyula Halász]]; 1899–1994), writer }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[André Kertész]] (1894–1985), photographer }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Man Ray]] (1890–1976), photographer }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Robert Capa]] (1913–1954), photographer }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Henri Cartier-Bresson]] (1908–2004), photographer }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier]] (1912–1996), photographer, who, in 1934, married [[Paul Vaillant-Couturier]] (1882–1937); she was also the daughter of Lucien Vogel }}
* {{Hanging indent |text=[[Gaston Paris (photographer)]] (1903–1964), photographer }}
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal| France | Media}}
*[[Isaac Kitrosser]]
*[[Alexander Liberman]]

== Bibliography ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

===References===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|Clark, February 19,|2007|p= }} |url=https://bigmedium.com/ideas/vu-magazine.html |title=''Vu'' Magazine: Photos, Robots and Cutting-Edge Design |last=Clark |first=Josh |date=February 19, 2007 |orig-date=updated June 13, 2007 |type=Blog |website=Big Medium |language=en-US |access-date=November 23, 2012 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Mirsky |first1=D.S. |author-link1=D.S. Mirsky |date=1997 |chapter=D. S. Mirsky: Twenty-Two Letters (1926–34) to Salomeya Halpern |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordslavonicpa0030unse/page/110/mode/2up |editor1-last=Smith |editor1-first=G.S. |editor2-last=Stone |editor2-first=G.C. |editor-last3=Macrobert |editor-first3=C.M. |title=Oxford Slavonic Papers |chapter-url-access=registration |series=New Series |language=en |volume=30 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=89–122 |access-date=January 13, 2013 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |lccn=52018936 |issn=0078-7256 |isbn=0-1981-5954-4 |oclc=1245622914}} Mirsky's letter 17, October 20, 1929, from his [[Gower Street, London|Gower Street]] address → {{URL|https://archive.org/details/oxfordslavonicpa0030unse/page/110/mode/2up|"Душенька". pp. 109–110; note 100}}.  For info on Salomeya Halpern (1888–1982), see [[Mark Slonim#Literary columnist|Mark Slonim]]. 
* {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|Frizot & De Veigy, November 2,|2006|p=}} |url=https://www.mep-fr.org/event/regarder-vu/ |title=Regarder ''Vu'': Un Magazine Photographique 1928–1940 |last1=Frizot, Michel |last2=De Veigy |first2= Cédric |date=November 2, 2006 |language=fr |trans-title=Looking at ''Vu'': A Photographic Magazine, 1928–1940 |access-date=January 18, 2013 |author1-link=:fr:Michel Frizot }}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Heller & Pomeroy,|1997|p=47}} |last1=Heller |first1=Steven |author-link1=Steven Heller (design writer) |last2=Pomeroy |first2=Karen |date=1997 |chapter=''Vogue'', Alexander Lieberman |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/designliteracyun0000hell/page/46/mode/2up?q=VU |title=Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design |chapter-url-access=registration |language=en-US |publisher=[[Allworth Press]] |page=47 |isbn=978-1-880559-76-5 |access-date=June 22, 2021 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |lccn=96-79695 |oclc=634624360}} {{LCCN|9679695 }}
*: Supplemental edition:
*:{{Hanging indent |text={{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Heller,|1999|p=65}} |last1=Heller |first1=Steven |author-link1=Steven Heller (design writer) |date=1999 |chapter=Picture Magazines of the 1930s |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueB6vvz9MfcC&dq=%22vu%22&pg=PA65 |title=Design Literacy (continued): Understanding Graphic Design |language=en-US |publisher=[[Allworth Press]] |page=65 |access-date=January 13, 2013 |lccn=99042995 |isbn=1-5811-5035-0 |oclc=883592407}} ("''[[Paris Match]]'' was arguably the most popular picture magazine, but the newsweekly ''Vu'' {{nowrap| ... }} was the most innovative".)}} 
* {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|Heller,|2009|p= }} |last1=Heller |first1=Steve |author-link1=Steven Heller (design writer) |date=2009 |title=Photography Changes the Look and Content of Magazines |url=http://click.si.edu/Story.aspx?story=289 |language=en-US |website=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=January 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327074855/http://click.si.edu/Story.aspx?story=289 |archive-date=March 27, 2009}}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Leenaerts,|2009|p=159}} |last1=Leenaerts |first1=Danielle |date=2009 |chapter=Le Magazine Français ''Vu'' (1928–40): Naissance de L'Information Visuelle et Utopie de la Substitution de L'Image Photographique au Texte Écrit |trans-chapter=The French Magazine ''Vu'' (1928–40): The Birth of Visual Information and Utopia of the Substitution of Photographic Image for Written Text |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5SqIkQAYKUC&dq=%22lucien%2Bvogel%22&pg=PA159 |editor1-last=MacLeod |editor1-first=Catriona |editor2-last=Plesch |editor2-first= Véronique |editor3-last=Schoell-Glass |editor3-first=Charlotte |editor-link3=:de:Charlotte Schoell-Glass |title=Elective Affinities: Testing Word and Image Relationships |series=Word & Image Interactions 6 |language=fr |location=[[Amsterdam]] |publisher=[[Rodopi (publisher)|Editions Rodopi BV]] |pages=159–172 |access-date=January 20, 2013 |via=[[Google Books]] |isbn=978-9-0420-2618-6 |oclc=897034082}}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Leenaerts,|2010|p=}} |last1=Leenaerts |first1=Danielle |date=2010 |title=Petite Histoire du Magazine ''Vu'' (1928–1940): Entre Photographie d'Information et Photographie D'Art |trans-title=A Brief History of ''Vu'' Magazine (1928–1940): Between Information Photography and Art Photography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yTOoAdpaY4C&pg=PA115 |language=fr |location=[[Brussels]] |publisher=Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes |page=115 |access-date=June 22, 2021 |via=[[Google Books]] |isbn=978-9-0520-1585-9 |oclc=690329730}}
*{{Cite book|last=Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen|title=Gaston Paris: die unersättliche Kamera|date=2019|publisher=Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König|isbn=978-3-96098-569-3|location=Köln|language=de|oclc=1263196302}}

{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Michel Frizot and Cédric de Veigy. ''Vu: The Story of a Magazine That made an Era''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-500-54383-2}}.

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMxIaIVk6Y8 French clip of the 2006 MEP retrospective].

[[Category:1928 establishments in France]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in France]]
[[Category:Defunct magazines published in Paris]]
[[Category:News magazines published in France]]
[[Category:Defunct French-language magazines]]
[[Category:Weekly magazines published in France]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1928]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:Photojournalistic magazines]]