Jean-Pierre Laffont's photographs of America's turbulent decades to go under the hammer in Paris

PARIS.- From Martin Luther King Jr. addressing opponents of the Vietnam War to Muhammad Ali preparing for one of boxing's most celebrated rematches, French photojournalist Jean-Pierre Laffont captured a nation struggling with its identity. More than 150 of his photographs will be offered at auction by Gros & Delettrez in Paris on November 16, bringing together images of political upheaval, social movements, counterculture, and everyday American life from the 1960s through the 1980s.

The sale, titled "Jean-Pierre Laffont, l'Amérique rebelle" ("Jean-Pierre Laffont: Rebellious America"), comes as the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence. At 91, Laffont is expected to attend the auction, which coincides with the publication of his new book, Rebels with a Cause, by Damiani.

Born in Algiers in 1935 and raised in Morocco, Laffont studied photography in Vevey, Switzerland, before moving to New York in 1964. He would spend the following decades documenting the country's changing political and social landscape, working with the influential French photo agencies Gamma and Sygma. Together with his wife, Eliane Laffont, he helped establish their American operations, contributing to what became a golden age of international photojournalism.

His photographs appeared in publications including Time, Newsweek, Paris Match, and Le Figaro Magazine. His assignments took him from the White House to the South Bronx, from antiwar demonstrations to rural communities facing economic hardship. Rather than concentrating exclusively on celebrated figures, Laffont frequently turned his camera toward people whose lives reflected the consequences of larger historical events.

Among the highlights is a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. taken on April 15, 1967, during an antiwar demonstration that drew more than 100,000 participants to the United Nations in New York. The photograph, estimated at €1,000–€1,500, captures King at a pivotal moment as his opposition to the Vietnam War became increasingly public.

Another photograph records the departure of President Richard Nixon from the White House on August 9, 1974, following his resignation amid the Watergate scandal. Estimated at €1,500–€2,000, the image stands alongside Laffont's photographs of the protesters who challenged American political authority during the same period.

The tensions of the Vietnam era also appear in a striking photograph of demonstrators outside the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. One protester wears an American flag across his eyes, creating a haunting image of dissent. The large-format print carries an estimate of €2,000–€3,000 and belongs to a group of five portraits that may be offered together with an estimate of €10,000–€15,000.

Beyond Washington, Laffont's photographs reveal the contradictions of New York during an era of economic crisis and cultural transformation. A 1976 image shows two homeless people seated beneath the newly constructed World Trade Center towers, juxtaposing monumental architecture with urban poverty. The large-format print is estimated at €2,500–€3,500.

A color photograph from 1972 depicts members of the Savage Skulls, a South Bronx street gang, posing against the fence of a basketball court. The image, estimated at €1,500–€2,000, offers an unusually direct encounter with young people living amid the city's social and economic upheaval.

The auction also revisits movements that transformed American culture. Laffont photographed New York's first Gay Pride march on June 28, 1970, commemorating the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Another image captures a young couple kissing amid the enormous crowd at the 1973 Summer Jam festival in Watkins Glen, where the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band, and The Band performed before an estimated 600,000 spectators.

His portraits of famous personalities offer a different perspective on the period. A photograph of Muhammad Ali at the weigh-in before his January 1974 rematch with Joe Frazier, estimated at €2,000–€3,000, captures the boxer's formidable presence. Other images include French singer Sylvie Vartan running across the Brooklyn Bridge in 1979, Alfred Hitchcock in New York in 1969, and Charlie Chaplin with his wife, Oona, in 1972.

Although Laffont is particularly associated with the United States, his career extended well beyond its borders. Between 1979 and 1980, he financed his own investigation into child labor across 12 countries, producing photographs that brought international attention to the exploitation of children. The project received recognition from World Press Photo and the Newspaper Guild of New York.

One of those images, showing children working at a brickworks near Bogotá, Colombia, in 1980, is included in the sale with an estimate of €500–€1,000. Other international photographs include schoolchildren in Yan'an, China, photographed in 1985.

The auction brings together works previously displayed in two major retrospectives. Approximately 80 framed prints originated from "Tumultueuse Amérique," presented at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2015, while another 43 prints come from "Photographier en toute liberté," shown at the Visa pour l'Image festival in Perpignan in 2025. The selection also includes signed and numbered photographs, period working prints, and large-format works produced in New York by the Picto laboratory.

According to the auction house, all prints will be accompanied by certificates of authenticity from the photographer.

Laffont's new book, Rebels with a Cause, brings together more than 150 images across 192 pages, with a foreword by writer Lucy Sante and a contribution by Eliane Laffont. The photographer is scheduled to sign copies at Paris Photo, at the Grand Palais, on November 13.

The photographs carry particular resonance at a moment when Americans continue to debate civil rights, political power, public protest, and national identity. For Laffont, whose career was shaped by witnessing these struggles firsthand, photography was never simply a matter of preserving appearances. It was a means of telling stories about society and, potentially, helping to change it.

"Mon moteur, c'était raconter des histoires. Je voulais informer pour améliorer le monde," he said in a 2023 interview with Le Petit Journal — "What drove me was telling stories. I wanted to inform people to make the world better."

The auction will take place at Gros & Delettrez, 2 rue de Bérite, Paris, on November 16 at 2 p.m. A public exhibition will be held November 12–14, during Paris Photo. Bidding will be available in person, by telephone, through absentee bids, and online.