Robert Doisneau
French photographer
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Through World War I, World War II and French Resistance
Doisneau is known for his 1950 image Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (The Kiss by the City Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing on a busy Parisian street.
He was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984 by then French president, François Mitterrand.
Photographic career
Doisneau used irony in images of juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. He was influenced by the work of André Kertész, Eugène Atget, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Doisneau's work gives prominence to children's street culture; returning to the theme of children at play in the city, unfettered by parents.
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Early life
Doisneau's father, a plumber, died on active service in World War I, when his son was about four. His mother died when he was seven. He then was raised by an aunt. At 13, he enrolled at the École Estienne. He graduated in 1929 with diplomas in engraving and lithography and took classes in figure drawing and still life.
When he was 16, he took up amateur photography, starting by photographing cobble-stones before progressing to children and then adults.
At the end of the 1920s, Doisneau found work as a draughtsman (lettering artist) at Atelier Ullmann (Ullmann Studio), a creative pharmaceutical graphics studio. He also acted as camera assistant in the studio and then progressed to a staff photographer.
Photography in the 1930s
In 1931, he left both the studio and advertising, taking a job as an assistant with the modernist photographer, André Vigneau. In 1932, he sold his first photographic story to Excelsior magazine.
Three years later, he began working as an industrial advertising photographer for the Renault car factory at Boulogne-Billancourt. Five years later, in 1939, he was dismissed due to repeated tardiness. He then freelanced in advertising, engraving, and postcard photography In 1991, he said that the years at the Renault car factory marked "the beginning of his career as a photographer and the end of his youth."
The same year, he was later hired by the Rapho photographic agency and traveled throughout France in search of picture stories, eventually taking his first professional street photographs.
War service and resistance
Doisneau worked at the Rapho agency until the outbreak of World War II, where he was drafted into the French army as both a soldier and photographer. He was in the army until 1940 and, from then until the end of the war in 1945, used his draughtsmanship, lettering artistry, and engraving skills to forge passports and identification papers for the French Resistance.
Post-war photography
Some of Doisneau's most recognizable photographs were taken after the war. He returned to freelance photography and sold photographs to Life and other international magazines. He briefly joined the Alliance Photo Agency but rejoined the Rapho agency in 1946 . He remained with them throughout his working life, despite receiving an invitation from Henri Cartier-Bresson to join Magnum Photos.
He refused to photograph women whose heads had been shaved as punishment for sleeping with Germans.
In 1948, he was contracted by Vogue to work as a fashion photographer.
Le Groupe des XV was established in 1946 in Paris to promote photography as art and drawing attention to the preservation of French photographic heritage, and Doisneau joined in 1950 and participated alongside Rene-Jacques, Willy Ronis, and Pierre Jahan. After the group was disbanded, he joined Les 30 x 40, the Club Photographique de Paris.
Doisneau continued to work through the 1970s, producing children's books, advertising photography, and celebrity portraits including Alberto Giacometti, Jean Cocteau, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, and Pablo Picasso. He also worked with writers and poets such as Blaise Cendrars and Jacques Prévert, and he credited Prevert with giving him the confidence to photograph everyday street scenes. He came to the Limousin region several times. He had a painter friend there, Jean-Joseph Sanfourche
Le Baiser de l'hôtel de ville (The Kiss)
In 1950 Doisneau created his most recognizable work for Life– Le Baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville), a photograph of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris, which became an internationally recognised symbol of young love in Paris. It was published on 12 June 1950, part of a photo-essay on couples kissing in Paris. The identity of the couple was unknown until 1992.
Personal life
Doisneau married Pierrette Chaumaison in 1934. The couple had two daughters, Annette (b. 1942) and Francine (b. 1947). From 1979 until his death, Annette worked as his assistant. The two sisters were models for their father from an early age, and now work together to manage his archives and legacy.
Doisneau's wife died in 1993 suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Doisneau died six months later in 1994, having had a triple heart bypass and was suffering from acute pancreatitis.
Doisneau was thought to be a shy and humble man, similar to his photography. He disagreed with his daughter, Francine, for charging an "indecent" daily fee of £2,000 for his work on a beer advertising campaign– he wanted only the rate of an "artisan photographer".
He lived in southern Paris (Gentilly, Val-de-Marne, Montrouge, and the 13th arrondissement) throughout his life. He is buried in the cemetery at Raizeux beside his wife.
Awards and commemoration
- Kodak Prize, 1947
- Niépce Prize, 1956 (Nicéphore Niépce)
- Grand Prix National de la Photographie, 1983
- Balzac Prize, 1986 (Honoré de Balzac)
- Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honour, 1984.
- Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) from the Royal Photographic Society, 1991.
- The Maison de la photographie Robert Doisneau in Gentilly, Val-de-Marne, is a photography gallery named in his honour.
- Several Ecole Primaire (primary schools) are named after him. Ecole élémentaire Robert Doisneau is at Véretz (Indre-et-Loire).
- The Allée Robert Doisneau is named in his honour at the 'Parc de Billancourt' on the site of the old Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt.
- On 14 April 2012, Google celebrated his 100th birthday with a Google Doodle.
Exhibitions
- 1947 Salon de la Photo, Bibliothèque, Paris
- 1951 Exhibition with Brassaї, Willy Ronis, and Izis, Museum of Modern Art, New York
- 1960 Solo exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Chicago.
- 1965 Exhibition with Daniel Frasnay, Jean Lattès, Jeanine Niépce, Roger Pic, and Willy Ronis, Six Photographes et Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris; Exhibition with Henri Cartier-Bresson and André Vigneau, Musée Réattu, Arles; Solo Exhibition, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Exhibition with D. Brihat, J. P. Sudre, and L. Clergue, Musée Cantini de Marseilles
- 1972 Solo Exhibition, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
- 1972 Exhibition with Edouard Boubat, Brassaї, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Izis, and Willy Ronis, French Embassy, Moscow
- 1974 Solo Exhibition, University of California at Davis. Solo exhibition, Galerie du Château d’Eau, Toulouse
- 1975 Solo Exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York; Musée Réattu Arts Décoratifs, Nantes; Musée Réattu, Arles
- 1975 Solo exhibition, Galerie et Fils, Brussels. Solo exhibition, fnac, Lyons; Group exhibition, Expression de l’humor, Boulogne Billancourt; Solo exhibition, Galerie Neugebauer, Basel
- 1976 Exhibition with Brassaї, Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Izis, and Marc Riboud, Kraków
- 1977 Solo Exhibition, Brussels; Exhibition with Guy la Querrec, Carlos Freire, Claude Raimond-Dityvon, Bernard Descamps, and Jean Lattès, Six Photographes en quête de banlieue, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
- 1978 Solo Exhibition, Ne Bougeons plus, Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris; Solo exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York; Solo exhibition, Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Charlon-sur-Saône
- 1979 Solo Exhibition, Paris, les passants qui passent, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
- 1980 Solo Exhibition, Amsterdam
- 1981 Solo Exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York
- 1982 Solo Exhibition, Portraits, Foundation Nationale de la Photographie, Lyons; Solo exhibition, French Embassy, New York; Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Photographe de banlieue, Town Hall, Gentilly
- 1982 Solo exhibition of 120 photographs, Palace of Fine Arts, Beijing, Exhibition of portraits, Tokyo; Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Photographie du dimanche, Institut Lumière, Lyon
- 1986 Group Exhibition, De Vogue à femme, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles
- 1987 Solo Exhibition, St.-Denis, Musée de St.-Denis; Solo exhibition, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
- 1988 Solo Exhibition, A Homage to Robert Doisneau, Villa Medicis, Rome
- 1989 Solo Exhibition, Doisneau-Renault, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris
- 1990 Solo Exhibition, La Science de Doisneau, Jardin des Plantes, Paris
- 1992 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau: A Retrospective, Modern Art Oxford
- 1993 The Summerlee Heritage Trust, Coatbridge, Scotland; Royal Festival Hall, London; Manchester City Art Gallery; O Mes da Fotografie Festival, Convento do Beato, Lisbon, Portugal; Musée Carnavalet, Paris
- 1994 "Hommage à Robert Doisneau", festival des Rencontres d'Arles, France
- 1994 Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada; Galway Arts Centre, Ireland; Solo exhibition, A Homage to Robert Doisneau, Galerie du Château d’Eau à Toulouse; Solo exhibition, Doisneau 40/44, Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lyon, Lyon, France; Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau ou la désobéissance, Ecomusée de Fresnais
- 1995 Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; The Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
- 1996 Solo Exhibition, Montpellier Photo-Visions, Galerie Municipale de la Photographie; Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Daimaru Museum, Osaka, Japan
- 2000 Exhibition, Gravités, Paris
- 2000 Exhibition, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
- 2002 Exhibition, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
- 2003 Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary; Exhibition, Bucarest, Romania
- 2003 Exhibition, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
- 2005 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau from the Fictional to the Real, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
- 2005 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
- 2010 Solo Exhibitions, Robert Doisneau, Du metier a l'oeuvre, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, 2, Impasse Lebouis, 75014 Paris
- 2010 Group Exhibition, Discoveries, Robert Doisneau, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
- 2010 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau, the fisherman of images, the Space for Art of Caja Madrid Zaragoza, Aranjuez, Madrid
- 2011 Group exhibition: Night, Robert Doisneau Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
- 2014 exhibition : The moments that he loved, sangsangmadang, Seoul
- 2015 exhibition : Robert Doisneau, a photographer at the museum, Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, Paris
Films about Doisneau
A short film, Le Paris de Robert Doisneau, was made in 1973.
In 1992 the French actress and producer Sabine Azéma made the film Bonjour Monsieur Doisneau.