Death of Irina Ionesco, known for her sulphurous photos of her young daughter

Photographer Irina Ionesco, known for her erotic photos of her daughter Eva, died on Monday at the age of 92, the latter told AFP on Thursday, confirming an article by Release.

The artist of Romanian origin, born on September 3, 1930, died this Monday at the Rothschild hospital in Paris after suffering several heart attacks, Eva Ionesco added.

“My mother made me suffer a lot all my life,” she confesses, while acknowledging her “indisputable talent” as a photographer. “We can’t take that talent away from him,” her daughter said.

Icon of the fashion world, Irina Ionesco had gained notoriety in the 1970s, in particular thanks to her erotic photos of her daughter Eva, photographed between the ages of four and eleven.

unhealthily sexualized

In a movie called My little princess, presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, Eva returned to this turbulent period. Actress Isabelle Huppert played the role of her mother.

At the end of a lawsuit initiated at the time of the film’s release, Eva Ionesco had obtained a ban on any new marketing of her photos, later described by the magistrates as those of “a very small girl or any girl, sexualized in a unhealthy and degrading for her”.

Eva Ionesco had not seen her mother for 15 years but ended up “overcoming her fear” thanks to her son encouraging her to go talk to her before she died.

“Forgiveness is difficult”

“You can’t forgive someone who has hurt you so much. Forgiveness is hard. But you can talk to people. I was able to talk to her before she died,” he said.

Irina Ionesco gave him and his grandson their negatives.

Born in Paris to a violinist father and a trapeze artist mother, the photographer was abandoned at the age of four. Sent to Romania, he grew up in the circus world with his grandmother and his uncles.

Photography came relatively late. His first exhibition in 1970 was a success. We see women in theatrical and seductive poses, adorned with lace, pearls, artificial flowers and surrounded by fetish objects. Her gothic and sensual style makes her an icon for many designers.