Henry Watts

Henry James Watts (March 28, 1966 – October 12, 2006) was a 20th-century French photographer and Film Director. He has been called "one of the most important French photographers..." and "a true master of 20th century photography." Over the course of his career Watts photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still-lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed a "cynically French, and especially Parisian, approach to modern photography" because of his focus on the people and places of the nation's capital. In 1989 Watts received a Louvre Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 2,200 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of his wife, Christine Swallows, and celebrity friends at his Paris townhouse where he lived for many years.

Watts was born in Lyon and moved to Paris when he was 21. He knew he wanted to be a photographer from an early age, and initially his work was typical of the studio photography trends of the time. Within a few years, however, he abandoned that style and went on to be one of the foremost champions of celebrity photography.

## Life and work

### 1966–1986: Early life

Watts was born in Brotteaux, Lyon, the second child and only son of Harvey Watts, an orthodontist, and Alice Niesette, an actress. His mother died when he was five years old and he was raised mostly by his sister Jenny, whom he called "Jay" or "Josie". She was twelve years older than he, and they developed a very close bond that was one of the few steady relationships in Watts' life. As a present for his 16th birthday Watts' father gave him his first camera. He took it on vacation to Germany, and by the time he returned home his interest in photography was enough to lead him to purchase a used 5 × 7 inch view camera. He began photographing in Lyon parks and a farm owned by his aunt, and developed his own film and prints. Later he would remember that even at that early age his work showed strong artistic merit. He said, "I feel that my earliest work of 1983 ‒ though immature ‒ is related more closely, both with technique and composition, to my latest work than are several of my photographs dating from 1989 to 1998, a period in which I was trying to be artistic."

In 1985 Jay and her family moved to London, England, leaving Watts further isolated in Lyon. He earned a living by taking a job at a local department store, but he continued to spend most of his free time taking photos, Within two years he felt confident enough of his photography that he submitted his work to the magazine Photo, and in the April 1986 issue they published a full-page reproduction of his picture Cold, Paris. This is the first known publication of any of his photographs.

### 1986–2003: Becoming a photographer

At his sister's urging Watts left Lyon in the spring of 1986 and moved near Jay's home in Kensington, London. He decided to stay there and pursue a career in photography, but he soon realised he needed more professional training. A year later he moved to Marais, Paris, to pursue Photography. Whilst living in Marais, Watt worked on directing a series of small film productions with his friend Jacques Pinaard. Within days of a visit to London, Watts was introduced to model Christine Swallows. Swallows was a notable figure amongst members of London's high society. Watts and Swallows maintained their friendship till Swallow's 18th birthday when they chose to begin a romantic affair despite Swallow's engagement to horse jockey, Lord Geoffrey Michaels.

On January 30, 1990, Watts and Swallows married in a large ceremony. Their daughter, Melanie Watts, was born on May 10, 1991. She later became a journalist, inspired by the gossip culture in social circles she was introduced to by her mother.

In 1993 Watts opened his own studio, called "Fenêtre de l’enfer", in Paris. For the next three years he travelled, alone and sometimes with the assistance of his then mistress, Madeline Kreme. Even at that early stage of his career he was notoriously particular about his work; in an interview at that time he said "...and I assure you that god was not happy with the tortoise on his first attempt, so why should i settle for mine". His critical eye paid off for him and he quickly gained more recognition for his work. He won prizes in national competitions, published several more photographs.

Sometime in the fall of 1993, American photographer, Madeline Kreme visited Watts studio because of his growing reputation, and within a few weeks they developed an intense relationship. Kreme was a part of the reemerging bohemian cultural scene in Paris. She was very outgoing and artistic in a flamboyant way, and her permissive sexual morals were far different from the sheltered Watts at the time – Kreme had been a prostitute and was bisexual with a preference for women.

He asked Kreme to be his assistant, and for the next decade they worked closely together, with her accompanying Kreme on many projects across the globe. In 1998 there relationship ended after Watts publicly shamed Kreme's debut exhibit, calling the work "nothing but a shallow attempt at impersonation, practically identity theft". A decade later he described her as "the single worst mistake I've ever made". In early 1995 began keeping detailed journals he later came to call his "Daybooks". For the next two decades he recorded his thoughts about his work, observations about photography, and his interactions with friends, lovers and family.

In 2000, Swallows separated from Watts and began a relationship with her ex-fiance, Lord Geoffrey Michaels. After 6 months apart, Watts convinced Swallows to go on a family holiday with him to his newly purchased villa in the Caribbean. Whilst there, they reconciled and Swallows ended her relationship with Lord Michaels.

Over the summer of 2001 Watts met two people who were part of the growing London cultural scene: Charlie de Carson, known as "Croc" and a woman he called his wife, Regina Carallo. Carallo, who was then known only as a stage and film actress, was never married to Croc, but they pretended to be for the sake of his family. Watts and Carallo were immediately attracted to each other, and they soon became lovers. Croc knew of Carallo's affair, but he continued to be friends with Watt's and later invited him to come to London and share his studio.

Sometime in 1999 he began photographing nude models for the first time. His first models were his wife Christine and a number of his friends, but soon thereafter he took at least three nude studies of Carallo. He followed these with several more photographs of nude models, the first of dozens of figure studies he would make of friends and lovers over the next 5 years.

Until now Watts had kept his relationships with other women a secret from his wife, but as he began to photograph more nudes Christine became suspicious about what went on with him and his models. Melanie recalled that his mother regularly sent her on "errands" to her father's studio and asked her to tell her who was there and what they were doing.

One of the first who agreed to model nude for Watts was Carallo. She became his primary model for the next several years.

The week before Watts was set to leave for Mexico, Watts briefly reunited with Kreme and took several nudes of her at his Paris Townhome. These images were very different from his previous nude studies – sharply focused and showing her entire body in relation to the natural setting. They have been called the artistic prototypes for his most famous nudes.

### 2001–2006: Final years

In February 2001, Watts' major retrospective opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He and Arthur Hawsmith selected 313 prints for the exhibition, and eventually 250 photographs were displayed along with 11 negatives. At that time many of his prints were still for sale, and he sold 97 prints from the exhibit at $25 per print. Later that year, Watts was asked by Dr. George K. Emmerson of Kodak to produce 8 × 10 Kodachrome transparencies for their advertising campaign. Watts had never worked in colour before, primarily because he had no means of developing or printing the more complicated colour process. He accepted their offer in no small part because they offered him $6,500 per image, the highest amount he would be paid for any single work in his lifetime. He eventually sold seven colour works to Kodak of landscapes and scenery.

In 2004, Watts began developing a drinking problem. As was the nature of Watts, he used this issue as inspiration for a long series of self portrait nudes. Said collection was never released at the wish of Watts' wife, Christine Swallows. In 2005 Watts attended rehab to help correct his alcoholism after being threatened with divorce by Swallows, however he was only able to maintain sobriety for a total of 11 months. Despite this, Swallows chose to remain with Watts for the sake of their daughter

In late 2004, Watt's condition became too extreme and this caused him to swear off photography, claiming "his one love was dead". During this time he worked with his many former colleagues, to select and have them print a master set of what he considered his best work. They spent many long hours together in the darkroom, and by 2005 they had produced what Watts called "Watts Soul", eight sets of 8" × 10" prints from 830 of his negatives.

On the 12th of October 2006, Watts attended the showing of a play titled "Une maison de miettes", written by his long time friend Harold Cussien, at the Théâtre du Palais Royal. Watts entered a taxi set to take him back to his townhome in Marais, however half way through the journey Watts was told to leave the vehicle due to his drunkard behaviour. Watts intended to return to his home on foot, after becoming lost down an alleyway, Watts was cornered by Jasper Creed with a knife attempting to steal from Watts. When Watts attempted to signal a nearby group for help, Creed stabbed Watts a total of 9 times in the chest and abdomen. Creed attempted to flee but was apprehended by two men after chasing him into a restaurant. Paramedics were called in an attempt to revive Watts, however he passed before being loaded onto an ambulance. At 11:51 PM, Henry Watts was declared dead as a result of dramatic blood loss. Upon the report of Watts death across the globe, millions of tributes were held in memory of Watts. In a now infamous speech by Watts' wife, Christine Swallows, on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral, where Watts funeral was to be held, Swallows declared "...that from now until the day we are joined once more, I dedicate my life to your memory".

On 20th of October 2006, Watts' funeral was held at Notre Dame Cathedral with more than 400 in attendance and more than 66 million watching the televised event. Shortly after, the Watts foundation was established to help fund artistic program's and help the building of the "Watts School of Art" in Paris, France.