Who has never laid eyes on Robert Doisneau's magnificent Kiss? Coming from a Life magazine commission to Robert Doisneau on the theme of love in the springtime in Paris, this photograph, taken in 1950, has toured the world and still embodies romanticism in the French capital today.
Born on April 14, 1912 in Gentilly and died on April 1, 1994 in Montrouge, Robert Doisneau is a French photographer initially trained in engraving and lithography. Before becoming famous, he worked successively as an advertising photographer, industrial photographer and photojournalist.
His work became known during the post-war period; with his Nikon F and Leica 24x26 format, he became one of the main representatives of French humanist photography.
The Kiss of the City Hall is one of his most famous photographs. Taken in 1950 next to the Paris City Hall, it shows a man and a woman kissing in front of the terrace of a café in the middle of the street. Around them, the silhouettes of passers-by swirl and plunge us into the bustle of 1950s Paris.
These characters that our eye likes to linger on are actually two drama students. He, with Yves Montand's false airs, is called Jacques Carteaud; she, looking like Piaf, is called Françoise Delbart.
Met by Doisneau in a Parisian café, he photographed them as part of a series on the theme of love in Paris in the spring for Life magazine. When the report was finished, the photograph was immediately published and... forgotten! When you open the magazine, you find it lost in the layout alongside the Baiser du Pont-Neuf or the Leek Lovers.
Its triumph came only in the mid-1980s with its marketing in posters, postcards, advertisements, and even puzzles and shower curtains!
All the lovers then recognize themselves in photography, and the trouble begins: the Lavergne couple claims to be lovers of photography and sues Doisneau for violation of their privacy. Françoise Delbart heard about the case and comes forward: she manages to prove that she is indeed the woman photographed and initiates a second lawsuit. The court rejects the Lavergne couple's complaint and also rejects Françoise's claim because she is not recognizable in the photo.
If the snapshot in the photo is false, the kiss was passionately true
So if Doisneau wins these lawsuits, he comes out wounded: the beautiful black-and-white kiss has been sullied by these rights and money cases. On the positive side, the story's repercussions helped to push forward image rights regulations over the following decade.
For the anecdote, Jacques Carteaud, the male protagonist of the photo, called Le Monde newspaper several years after the affair. He thought it was a pity that "we could turn this photographic story into a money story".
And he was quite right.
To learn more about Robert Doisneau's work.
Mélanie for Comme des Français
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Discover other French artists who have revolutionized their art:
- In the footsteps of Monet
- The Camille Claudel Museum next to Paris
- The Lumière brothers
