Born into a prosperous family in 1894, Jacques Henri Lartigue discovered photography at an early age, thanks to his father, an amateur photographer, who gave him his first camera, a chambre photographique, with which he took his first pictures at the age of eight. At the same time, he was drawing and recording his privileged daily life, punctuated by his fascination for sports, but also for planes, cars and the inventions of his brother Maurice, nicknamed Zissou. In 1918, he considered that he had painted his first picture, and exhibited his work at various Parisian Salons from 1921 onwards, then at the Georges Petit gallery (1930-1931), while continuing to photograph his immediate surroundings. In 1962, with Florette, his third wife, he travelled to New York, where they met Charles Rado, founder of the Rapho photographic agency. After seeing Lartigue's photographs, Rado introduced him to John Szarkowski, the new director of MoMA's photography department. Szarkowski was so impressed that the following year he organized the very first exhibition of Lartigue's work, presented as the photographer of instantaneity, witness to a bygone era, that of pre-1914. In 1966, the publication of Boyhood photographs of J. H. Lartigue established his reputation. Richard Avedon and Bea Feitler published Diary of a Century in 1970, Instants de ma vie in 1973, combining images and commentary by the photographer with excerpts from his diary.

In 1975, the first retrospective of his work, 8X80, referring to his output between the ages of 8 and 80, was held at the Pavillon de Marsan in Paris. A year earlier, Lartigue had taken the official photograph of French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

In 1979, Lartigue became the first French photographer to donate his photographic work to the French state during his lifetime. In 1980, the Association des Amis de Jacques Henri Lartigue presented Bonjour Monsieur Lartigue at the Grand Palais.

Until his last days, he continued his work as a diarist, painter and photographer. He died in Nice on September 12, 1986, at the age of 92. He left over 120,000 photographs, thousands of diary pages and 1,500 paintings. His work is on deposit at the Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine.

Donation Jacques-Henri Lartigue