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« Childhood,» not idealized innocence, but free play, scraped knees, solitude,
and joy. Doisneau, a true invisible companion, follows these child explorers of the
beyond, undisturbed.
The «Artists’ Studios» section brings together portraits of Picasso, Braque, Giacometti,
and Léger, all in silent conversations.
The photographer observes without ever imposing himself, paying homage to this
world he discreetly explored with his lens.
The «Suburbs» show fragments of everyday life on the margins, without pathos, but
always imbued with dignity, a photograph that listens more than it denounces. As
for the «Bistrots,» in these theaters of French sociability, places of human comedy,
Doisneau captures the smallest gestures, a glance, a hand resting on a glass, a hint of
a smile. With his iconic photograph of the «Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville,» «Loves and
Encounters» addresses a cross-cutting theme.
Tenderness becomes a universal language, and all around it unfolds a grammar of
affection, often more intense in stolen gestures than in overt kisses. Far from the aes-
thetic concept of manual labor in contemporary photography, Doisneau reveals the
silent dignity of marked hands and repeated gestures, capturing a profound humanity
in his photographs from the series «Work and Craftsmen.» «Time and the Gaze» takes
us on a familial approach to conservation.
This visual narrative is strongly linked to the living memory of the family.
The photographer’s daughters drew their hearts directly from the Atelier’s archives.
Their choice is not merely documentary, it is emotional.
They were able to interpret their father’s work without mythologizing it, while resto-
ring its coherence and diversity.
Robert Doisneau: Waltzing Kiss, June 2, 1950
© Atelier Robert Doisneau