Robert Doisneau is a photographer I’ve studied in the past due to my interest in street photography. I chose this photograph as it’s his most famous photograph and has had the most impact.
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Le baiser de l’hotel de ville is a photograph captured by Robert doisneau. He focused on street photography, “often catching his subjects unaware”. (Robert Doisneau, artnet.com, 2018) Doisneau started practicing photography from 1931 and continued on until his passing in 1994.
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
This photograph is titled Le baiser de l’hotel de ville, which translates to ‘The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville’. One website that the image can be found is loeildelaphotographie.com.
With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
The image was produced in 1950.
How was the photo/video authored?
Robert Doisneau was considered a street photographer and a ‘humanist photographer’ (One of history’s most romantic photographs was staged, bbc.com, para. 9) therefore his photographs were authentic, similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson. Film photography wasn’t able to be edited during Doisneau’s time so all the ‘editing’ was done during the taking of the shot through the adjusting of composition and light. While the ‘sentiments’ in his photographs were authentic, Doisneau did use actors to pose in his photographs to avoid legal issues, including the couple shown in ‘The Kiss’.
How was the photo/video published?
The photo was first published in Life magazine where Doisneau was directed to get photographs of couples in Paris for a spread. The photo was then published 30 years (early 1980’s) later in poster format, which catapulted it into success. Doisneau described its success, quote “We all realised that it represented a perfect fantasy. It encapsulates the world’s view of Paris as the city of love and freedom.”(One of history’s most romantic photographs was staged, bbc.com, para. 9)
How was the photo distributed?
The first distribution was by Doisneau himself; after capturing the image, he gave one of the actors, Francoise Bornet, a print of the image with his stamp and signature. Bornet auctioned the print in 2005, where it was sold for $242,000 (currency was not mentioned). Le baiser de l’hotel de ville is at a price of $25,000, displayed at the Galerie Argentic in Paris. This image is now distributed everywhere on the Internet through simple search, on websites like Pinterest and many art websites.
References:
Poirier, Agnes, 2017, One of history’s most romantic photographs was staged, BBC, viewed 3 April 2019, <http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170213-the-iconic-photo-that-symbolises-love>
Driscoll, Molly, 2012, Robert Doisneau: The story behind his famous ‘Kiss’, The Christian Science Monitor, viewed 5 April 2019, <https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2012/0414/Robert-Doisneau-The-story-behind-his-famous-Kiss>