Robert Doisneau

French, 1912-1994

BiographyRobert Doisneau was a French photojournalist and street photographer celebrated for his often surreal and light-hearted portrayal of French culture and Parisian urban life. Photographing France in the aftermath of World War II, Doisneau developed a humanist approach toward his photography—celebrating the flawed and making the private and personal visible without harming his subjects' dignity. Rejecting Pictorialism and its emotive emphasis that dominated during the early 20th century, Doisneau often took a humorous, straightforward approach toward his subjects. In 1950, Doisneau joined Les Groupe des XV, a collective of artists dedicated to the elevation of photography as a serious artistic medium that celebrated French culture in the new post-war world. Doisneau's photography exemplifies Cartier-Bresson’s "decisive moment", a single moment in time in which the energy of a candid event being photographed is balanced with the formal, compositional qualities of the photograph.

Doisneau has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Bibliotheque National, Paris; the Art Institute of Chicago; and Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. His work is found in the permanent collections of major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Museé D'art Moderne in Paris, and the Museé Carnavalet, among others.

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