In the aftermath of the War, France experienced the Thirty Glorious Years. Young people benefitted from it to plunge themselves into modernity and the young directors wanted to stick to this reality. Godard’s film 'À bout de souffle', released in 1960, is symbolic of New Wave cinema. The tone is very liberal and carefree. Beauty falls in love with a little thug. They cover every inch of Paris with fags in their mouths, they make love in hotels and all with an unprecedented freedom of tone, body and movement.

**The artist: Raymond Cauchetier**

Raymond Cauchetier, who was born in 1920, took up photography by chance in Saigon at the age of 31 years old. Whilst in the Air Force he was a press officer in Indochina, however his department lacked a qualified photographer. He bought himself a Rolleiflex and whenever possible captured images of a world at war. His photos had considerable impact. Some of them have been published internationally. In 1956, when he photographed the temples at Angkor, the director Marcel Camus invited him to photograph scenes from his film 'Mort en fraude', being filmed in Cambodia. So his prestigious career began as a movie stills photographer at this unforgettable moment, the birth of the French New Wave. He collaborated with several of the world’s greatest directors, such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville François Truffaut, Bertrand Tavernier, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Demy.etc. Until this period, cinema photographs were lacking in creativity. Raymond Cauchetier, who was hooked on the cult of New Wave, reinvented set photography. He chose to distance himself from a fetichized image of cinema and to show cinema being 'made'. He took his photos before, during or after the shooting of the scene. He also showed backstage scenes including the production side and the technicians at work. He photographed the reality of the profession foractors who were getting ready and directors who were either being negative or exulting.