L' Assassinat de Baltard ... Marc Pellerin ... André Laude ..

Published by Flammarion in 1971, L'Assassinat de Baltard serves as a visual and textual lament for the demolition of Les Halles in Paris. Through the photography of Jean-Claude Gautrand and accompanying contributions from Marc Pellerin and André Laude, the book documents the final moments of the Baltard pavilions—the iconic cast-iron structures that defined the city's central marketplace for over a century before their controversial removal to make way for modern urban development.

The work captures the architectural decay and the somber atmosphere of the site during the late 1960s and early 1970s, reflecting a period of intense transformation in French urban history. Gautrand's stark, high-contrast imagery highlights the structural beauty of the pavilions, framing their destruction not merely as construction, but as a cultural loss. The book was received as a poignant protest piece, joining a wider discourse among intellectuals and artists who opposed the modernization efforts that dismantled the historic heart of Paris.