Vu (magazine)

Vu, stylized as VU, was a weekly French pictorial magazine, created and directed by Lucien Vogel, which was published from March 21, 1928 to May 29, 1940; it ran for just over 600 issues. In 1931, Vogel founded a companion magazine named Lu (read), a survey of the foreign press translated into French; this merged with Vu in March 1937.

Vu was the first large weekly to systematically feature photographs in essay form, and as such was an important precursor to, and proponent of, the magazine format of photojournalism (which came to prominence a decade after its print run in magazines such as Life and Look). Although inspired in part by the German magazine Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, VU featured a constructivist aesthetic and was innovative in its layouts, especially in its double-page spreads. Notable contributors included Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Brassaï, and André Kertész. It was particularly advanced in its use of picture essays.

The magazine published special issues on the Soviet Union (VU au pays des Soviets, November 18, 1931), Germany (L'énigme allemande, 1932), the ascent of technology (Fin d'une civilisation, 1933), China (Interrogatoire de la Chine, 1934), and Spain (VU en Espagne, 1936).

A major retrospective was hosted by the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in late 2006/early 2007.