French street photographer – Robert Doisneau

I admire the photography of Robert Doisneau and even though he has been celebrated many times on the net, I’m compelled to do a post on the art he created with his 35mm Leica.

Robert Doisneau is one of France’s favourite photographers, best known for his street photography and his many playful images of everyday French life. As one of the first photographers to do outdoor photojournalism, his prolific output covered ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes.

Roberts deep appreciation of the pure moments he witnessed on the streets of Paris was continually evident in his images and was his ongoing affirmation of the beauty of life and his love for humanity. I feel this personal quality bestowed him the gift of being in the right place at the right time to observe these visual treats unfolding.

Doisneau captured a charming vision of human frailty, peoples foibles and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments. He made the claim, “ the marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street. “ His photographs over the course of several decades encapsulate a great record of life on the streets of France.

Angels And Leeks - 1953

Concierge rue du Dragon – Robert Doisneau

Surrealist sculptor Alberto Giacometti in his studio - 1957

( Robert Doisneau shop - virtual galleries of photographs – Doisneau - Painters and sculptors series )

Woman with dog Paris.Ca.1890

Photographer unknown

Vice et Versailles – 1966

Venus Grabbed by the Throat, 1964

Small children milk -1945 Robert Doisneau

Banquistes the Place de la Bastille - 1945

( Fairground series )

Street Musicians, London 1956

Bebop cellar, Vieux Colombier 1951 – Robert-Doisneau

The painter and his model, Paris 1949

The Painter of the Pont des Arts

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” You’ve got to struggle against the pollution of intelligence in order to become an animal with very sharp instincts – a sort of intuitive medium – so that taking a photograph becomes a magical act, and slowly other more suggestive images begin to appear behind the visible image, for which the photographer cannot be held responsible.” ~ Robert Doisneau

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The potter’s wheel, Saint Armand en Puisaye 1945

The Shower – 1949 Robert Doisneau

The Children of Place Hebert – Robert Doisneau

Jacques Tati – Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday

A French movie full of sight gags, irony and inimitable warmth and charm, not dissimilar to Robert Doisneau’s photographs.

A woman walks in Paris 1948 - Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau

Street Lamp on rue Vilin, 1969

Robert Doisneau- Snow in New York Maurice Baquet 1960

Ronde d’enfants devant l’abbatiale de Marmoutier - Robert Doisneau, 1945

Paris street sweeper - Robert Doisneau

Mimile and Maiss - Le cirque by Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau, Dream Girls 1952

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‘” I like people for their weaknesses and faults. I get on well with ordinary people. We talk. We start with the weather, and little by little we get to the important things. When I photograph them it is not as if I were examining them with a magnifying glass, like a cold and scientific observer. It’s very brotherly. And it’s better, isn’t it, to shed some light on those people who are never in the limelight.” ~ Robert Doisneau

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The diver Pont d’Iena – Robert Doisneau –1945

Les Chien du Marquis de Cuevas, Bois de Boulogne

L’Accordéoniste de la Rue Mouffetard 1951

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Doisneau was able to fix this radiant gravity that isolated a man from the crowd, and in these moments of grace create an ” illusion of time ” as if in a ” geometric dream. ” – Jean-François Chevrier

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