Analysis Of The Photo The Kiss By Town Hall By Robert Doisneau

The photograph I picked was “Le Baiser de ‘hotel de ville”. It was taken place in Paris, France. Which translates to “The kiss by town hall” in English. The person that took the photo was named Robert Doisneau. The photo was taken in 1950.

The history of the photo was that Doisneau’s father’s agent pitched a series called “The Lovers Of Paris” to the Americanmagazines. The magazine that commissioned was called “The Life”. Doisneau preferred to use actors or his friends to avoid any legal issues with the photographs.

Doisneau was walking through the streets of Paris with this one young actor couple. The people in the photo were named Francoise Delbart and Jacques Carteaud. Doisneau decided to have a photoshoot with the couple for 500 Franc. Which is 668 Canadian dollars. Doisneau thought that they were acting was very natural. They didn’t care about what the other people thought when they were flirting and kissing. Then Doisneau captured the kiss between the couple near a cafe.

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The moment that was captured fitted really well because it the photograph only focused on the couple and everyone else was blurred out. I think it represents that the couple is focusing on their love rather than the people around them. Around this time, America magazines were really interested in the stories of Paris. Specifically on how people in Paris were acting more free than America. Especially when it came to the topic of love. Because you wouldn’t see people in the streets of New York kissing their significant other.

The photograph got over 410,000 copies in 1986.

After the photo got published in “The Life” magazine. Doisneau thought the photograph wasn’t that fantastic. He just thought it was well composed. But the photograph became such a success that a publisher suggested to publish the photograph again but in poster format. This was Doisneau’s answer to why he thought this photograph was a success.

“We all realised that it represented a perfect fantasy. It encapsulates the world’s view of Paris as the city of love and freedom.” I think this photograph is an important icon because symbolizes love. And the fact that this photograph was taken in Paris makes it better because Paris is known as the city of love. This also represents that people that live in France are more open about showing their affection to their significant others in that country. Whereas in other countries it may seem unnatural. In the concept of the photo, you can see that it only focuses on the couple and the other people are blurred. I think that might also represent how much your significant other is important to you and that nobody can stop them from loving that special person in their life.

The kiss in the photo looks very much like a movie type kiss. So this could be another reason why people might find this photo so interesting because it’s so hard to believe that you could see a kiss like that in real life and the couple look very passionate about their love that they share.

Works cited

1. Doisneau, R. (Photographer). (1950). Le Baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville [Photograph]. Retrieved from Museum of Modern Art, New York website: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/43521
2. Barents, E., Doisneau, A., & Daix, P. (2003). Robert Doisneau: Paris. Flammarion.
3. Knauss, S. (2005). "The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville" and Its Revisions: Robert Doisneau, Romanticism, and the Transformation of French Photography. The Art Bulletin, 87(3), 478-508. doi:10.1080/00043079.2005.10786299
4. Rewald, S. (2007). Robert Doisneau: Photographs. Thames & Hudson.
5. Doisneau, R. (2008). Robert Doisneau: Paris Les Halles Market. Editions de la Martinière.
6. Rivero, Y. (2009). Robert Doisneau's "Le Baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville": Reconsidering the Controversy and Context. History of Photography, 33(2), 151-163. doi:10.1080/03087290903059553
7. Morton, P., & Berger, R. (2012). A World History of Photography (5th ed.). Laurence King Publishing.
8. Leggat, R. (2013). The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville: Social and Cultural Contexts. In A. Ganeva & A. Genova (Eds.), Photography and Social Movements: From the Globalisation of the Image to the Image of Globalisation (pp. 33-44). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
9. Salgado, S. (2015). The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville: Robert Doisneau and the Photography of Paris. Yale French Studies, 128(1), 168-187. doi:10.2307/24862890
10. Tate. (n.d.). Robert Doisneau: The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/doisneau-the-kiss-by-the-hotel-de-ville-p11287