BRENNER, FRÉDÉRIC

BRENNER, FRÉDÉRIC (1959– ), French photographer. After completing studies in ethnology and sociology, Brenner   began traveling around the world to document Jewish communities, from the United States to Yemen, China, and Russia, collecting a large amount of information and photographs about communities sometimes almost forgotten or capturing diverse aspects of Jewish life in America, Israel, or Europe. This quarter-of-a-century-long quest gave birth to a number of books and exhibitions (International Center for Photography, New York; Rencontres internationales de la photographie, Arles; Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne), and was summarized in 2004 in an exhaustive two-volume book, Diaspora, where Brenner's pictures echo texts by the author and major Jewish writers or philosophers (derrida , benny levy ). The outstanding value of Brenner's work was confirmed by the Niepce Award for photography in 1981 and the Prix de Rome in 1992. He also directed the documentary film Les derniers marranes ("The Last Marranos," 1990). (Dror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)