Claude Batho began drawing and painting at a very young age. She enrolled in the École supérieure des arts appliqués Duperré in Paris in 1950, and was introduced to photography by her father, who gave her her first camera. She worked in the documentary reproduction department at the French National Archives, where she met her husband, the photographer John Batho. From then on, her work took a more intimate turn, resembling a diary. In 1975, with the help of John, she put together a portfolio, Portraits d’enfants, using their two daughters, Marie-Angèle and Delphine*, as models. The series enabled her to assert her sensitive style with black and white photographs of classic themes. In 1977, she exhibited a selection of pictures at the Galerie Agathe Gaillard* in Paris, and gained recognition thanks to Antoinette Fouque*, the director of the des femmes* publishing house, who offered to publish a volume of her works. Le Moment des choses (1977) shows a woman who accepts to reveal the personal aspects of her everyday life in a body of works tinged with intimism and references to the paintings of Jean Siméon Chardin, whom the photographer admired. Her vision transforms the insignificance of daily life into a visual experience, in which women – the souls of their homes – become the vehicles of her research.

Their collaboration continued with the magazine Des femmes en mouvements, the December 1979 issue of which came fully illustrated with her photographs. C. Batho received favourable reviews from Hervé Guibert in Le Monde and from Michel Nuridsany in Le Figaro, at a time when photographic critique was still an emerging genre in these major daily papers. Making the most of this newly acquired fame, the years 1979-1981 were a period of intense creativity for the artist. Unfortunately, illness brought an abrupt ending to her career, and J. Batho has since been in charge of making his wife’s last photographs known. Two other projects were published, one as a book (Claude Batho, photographe, 1982) and the other as a portfolio (Instants très simples, 1983), followed by a cycle of exhibitions throughout France.