1958 Born on April 28 in Paris, François Hébel grew up in a family of journalists and theater people. After two years of medicine, he plans to travel around the world but must first, at his mother’s request, obtain a diploma. This will be a university degree in communication technology. Following an internship in 1979 in the communications department of Fnac, he was promoted, thanks to his mastery of English, to assistant to the brand’s director of photography, before succeeding him in 1983. For two years, young Hébel directed and programmed the growing number of photo galleries, and he became familiar with the world of photography and its creators.
1986 Following the resignation of Lucien Clergue from the management of the Rencontres d’Arles, his name was proposed by Jean-Luc Monterosso, creator of the Month of Photography in Paris, for three reasons: “He knows how to program exhibitions, manage budgets and create events. » At 28, Hébel becomes director of a festival in debt and losing momentum. His profile contrasts with that of his predecessors. His address book built up at Fnac, his choice of SNCF workshops as an exhibition venue, financial support from Kodak as well as new aesthetic directions revitalized the festival. The public discovers Martin Parr, Bruce Bilgen, Nan Goldin, Gabriele Basilico, Paul Graham…
1987 Called by Richard Kalvar, then president of the Magnum Photos agency, to manage the Paris office, he left Arles. “I know the press and the agencies, having been born into ithe says. It will be thirteen years of a fight which begins with the purchase of a fax machine and ends with the purchase of a building where Magnum settles. » The beginning also of the digitization of the archives, alongside the support given to photographers’ projects and the creation of a culture department with Agnès Sire. “Magnum is a place that only knows how to progress through tension. Each time we argued and moved forward. »
He returned in 2001 to the management of the Rencontres d’Arles at the request of their president François Barré. The context has changed, photo institutions are more and more numerous. “We must renew the formula by changing the format and taking inspiration from the Avignon Festival where it is the directors invited by the director who make the programming,” François Barré advises him. François Hébel completes his program by inviting external curators; the exhibitions return to the SNCF workshops; prizes are awarded; private partners are multiplying and attendance increases from 9,000 people in 2001 to 83,000 in 2014, the year of his resignation following, among other things, the sale of the Parc des Ateliers to Maja Hoffmann’s Luma foundation.
2015 He joined the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, called by Agnès Sire, its director, and its president to ensure the deployment of the foundation in its new spaces at 79, rue des Archives (Paris-3e). He took over as director in 2017.
2024 On November 5, the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York announced the appointment of François Hébel as general director of the center, and that of David Campany as artistic director. This renewal of governance resulted from his meeting with the donors of the ICP and its new CEO, Bob Jeffrey: it was on this occasion that an audit of the institution created in 1974 by Cornell Capa in memory of his brother Robert Capa is ordered to him. Both a museum and a photography school, the ICP is looking for a second wind. François Hébel’s proposals were so appealing that he was asked to take charge. Which he accepts, effectively postponing his decision to retire.
