Jean-Pierre Laffont: New York Noir
On March 12, 2026, the Leica Store Miami opens its doors to New York Noir, an exhibition dedicated to the work of French-American photographer Jean-Pierre Laffont.
The show runs from March through May 2026 and brings together 27 large-format prints alongside a digital projection of Laffont’s New York street photographs. These are images that capture something hard to put into words: the restless rhythm of the city, its tensions, its contradictions, that feeling of being caught in the middle of something alive and unpredictable. Shot on grainy film and built around deep blacks and whites that seem to burn off the surface, the photographs immediately conjure the atmosphere of classic film noir. A New York that is seductive and unsettling at once, raw and electric.
Laffont first arrived in New York in 1964. The city hit him hard — chaotic, loud, at times dangerous, but also extraordinarily vital, daring, charged with an energy that never seemed to run out. The photographs in New York Noir grow out of that first impression and everything that followed: years spent moving instinctively through its streets, photographing the monumental disorder of urban life and the exhilaration it somehow manages to produce. It is a portrait of a city observed with a critical eye, but also with deep affection — a place that left a permanent mark on his life and work.
About the Author
Jean-Pierre Laffont is a central figure in the history of international photojournalism. Born in 1935 in French Algeria and raised in Morocco, he studied photography in Vevey, Switzerland, before moving to the United States in 1964 and becoming an American citizen in 2016.
Together with his wife Eliane, he co-founded the photo agencies Gamma USA and Sygma, helping lay the foundations of modern photojournalism on a global scale. Over more than five decades, he documented some of the most defining moments in American history: the protests against the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, Nixon’s resignation, and key battles of the civil rights movement. His assignments also took him across Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, where he covered conflicts and major political transitions.
He photographed many of the most influential figures of the twentieth century — writers, actors, world leaders — and in 1979 began a long-term investigation into child labor, a project that made a tangible contribution to raising international awareness on the issue.
His photographs have appeared in Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris Match, among other publications. Over the course of his career he has received numerous honors, including the Lucie Award, the Visa d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award, the title of Knight in the French Order of Arts and Letters, the Legion of Honor, and the Hermione Award. His work continues to be exhibited worldwide and remains an essential reference point in documentary photography.
Jean-Pierre Laffont: New York Noir
March 12, 2026 – May, 1 , 2026
Leica Store Miami – USA
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