Bellon, Denise (b. 1902)
Bellon, Denise (b. 1902)
French photographer. Born Denise Hulmann in Paris, France, in 1902; married Jacques Bellon (divorced early 1930s); married Armand Labin (deceased); children: (first marriage) Yannick (a film director) and Loleh (an actress and writer); (second marriage) Jérôme.
Denise Bellon was working for a psychology degree at the Sorbonne, when she abandoned her studies to marry and have a family. Following her divorce, around 1930, she took up photography, establishing herself through the group agencies Studio Zuber and Alliance-Photo. Widely published in art magazines, Bellon became interested in the surrealistic art movement and photographed all the group's exhibitions in Paris, while making portraits of notable artists of the movement including Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí. A commission by Paris-Match also took her to French Africa. Bellon later married Armand Labin and settled in Lyons, where she had a third child. After her husband's death in 1956, she returned to Paris.