↑ Jackie Kennedy in Paris, 1961 | Alfred Hitchcock on a yacht during Cannes Film Festival, 1972. ©Rue des Archives/AGIP
Hot on the heels of buying a gift merchandising company London based photo licensing agency Bridgeman Images have now added to their image files by acquiring French photo library Rue des Archives. At the core of Rue des Archives is the collection of content from the AGIP picture agency, founded in 1936 and containing over 3,000,000 images, covering France’s newsworthy events, artists, writers and stars.
Victoria Bridgeman, CEO of Bridgeman Images, says: “We have been admiring Rue des Archives for a number of years, so it is very exciting that we have now joined forces. Thanks to its fantastic content and its excellent team, headed by Darius Shepard, Rue des Archives is a leading library in the French market and we look forward to working with them to extend RDA’s reach to Bridgeman’s global audience. I’m confident that the combined strength of Bridgeman and Rue des Archives will make us a force to be reckoned with.”
• Rue des Archives features specialist photographers including Gérald Bloncourt (political and humanitarian images), Michel Sima (artists & workshops), René Saint Paul (photojournalism, Albert Camus), Raymond Cauchetier (“Nouvelle Vague” film sets) and representing major image sources in France such as CineStreet (French movie archives) and Paul-Emile Victor.
• Rue des Archives will maintain its offices in Paris and begin transferring content to Bridgeman Images for international distribution.