From his illustrations for Nadja d’André Breton, via Le Gros Orteil or Les Mouches published in the Documents magazine by Georges Bataille, photographer Jacques-André Boiffard (1902-1961) presented some of the most emblematic images of Surrealist iconography. One of the very first members of the movement, Boiffard was a discrete but active witness of the Surrealist adventure. For instance, he wrote the preface to the first issue of La Révolution Surréaliste, alongside Paul Eluard and Roger Vitrac.

Despite the fact that he only affirmed himself as a photographer after over four years spent as Man Ray’s assistant, Boiffard sought to amalgamate subversion, strangeness, and onirism within his own practice of the medium, always with an uncompromising attitude and an obsession for analysis.