Asleep, Spain, Fourth Journey, February 1936

With images full of dread and dark wit, French photographer Eli Lotar perched brilliantly between surrealism and documentary. An exhibition, Eli Lotar (1905-1969), is at Jeu de Paume, Paris, 14 February-28 May. All images: Eli Lotar

The Meat, 1929

Lotar was born in Paris in 1905, the son of a Romanian poet. He grew up in Bucharest, but returned to Paris and became a French citizen in 1926

Punishment, 1929

He became involved in the radical arts scene of Paris in the 1920s, befriending theatre directors such as Antonin Artaud and Roger Vitrac, and writers Jacques and Pierre Prévert

Untitled (Broken Glass), circa 1940-1950

He also worked with the surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel, and was the cinematographer for his only documentary, Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (Land Without Bread)

Madrid, February 1936

His work appeared in a variety of radical publications, including George Bataille’s journal Documents – his images of hooves illustrate the word abattoir in the ‘dictionary’ section

Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts, 1928

Lotar’s, whose work was visually daring and more socially engaged than that of many other surrealists, used photography to document the dramas and struggles of everyday French people

Draining of the Zuiderzee, Netherlands, 1930

He moved into directing his own films, including Aubervilliers (1945), a collaged study of the Parisian suburb commissioned by the city’s mayor to highlight poor living conditions. It screened at the Cannes film festival

Untitled (Journey Aboard the L’Exir Dallen), circa 1933

Lotar worked as a cameraman for French film luminaries such as Jean Renoir and Jean Painlevé

Untitled (Lisbonne), 1931

Another collaborator was the surrealist photographer Germaine Krull, who also became Lotar’s lover – although he later married Elisabeth Makovski

Giacometti, Bust of Lotar, 1965

In his later life, he befriended the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti, and posed for him in some of Giacometti’s final pieces

Portrait of the Actress Wanda Vangen, 1929

Lotar died in 1969, leaving behind a body of work that brings together glamour, storytelling, urban realism and fantasy