Agathe Gaillard's gallery opened in June 1975, in the Le Marais quarter in Paris, where it continues. She was encouraged in this venture by a group of photographer friends including Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Ralph Gibson, Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertesz, Edouard Boubat, Robert Doisneau and Gisèle Freund.
 
The idea was to create a gallery of photography, something specific, adapted to an art nouveau and a new way of collecting. The well known photographers associated with the gallery were always involved with the young photographers who were attracted by this fresh way of being involved in their chosen profession. The younger photographers learning from the personal expression, experiences and the quality of the prints of the well established.
 
It was never a school, but rather about strong personalities working in their appropriate style. The relationships at the gallery were, and are, primarily personal and involve long collaborations. The gallery does not aim to fit into contemporary art, but rather include and display it with its own unique characteristics. From the beginning the gallery had not envisaged other activities than the sale of prints which developed slowly and regularly over the years. In this way over the last thirty five years the gallery has assisted in the development of both large public and private collections.
 
June 2010