Robert Doisneau's 101st Birthday.

Robert Doisneau(14 April 1912 – 1 April 1994) In the 1930s he used a Leica on the streets of Paris. He and Henri Cartier-Bresson were pioneers of photojournalismHe is renowned for his 1950 image Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984.

Doisneau was known for his modest, playful, and ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. Influenced by the work of André Kertész, Eugène Atget, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, in more than twenty books he presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments.

 Photography in the 1930s:

In 1931 he left both the studio and advertising, taking a job as an assistant with the modernist photographer André Vigneau.

In 1932 he sold his first photographic story to Excelsior magazine.

In 1934 he began working as an industrial advertising photographer for the Renault car factory at Boulogne-Billancourt.

In 1939 he was hired by Charles Rado of the Rapho photographic agency and travelled throughout France in search of picture stories. This is where he took his first professional street photographs.

Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall)

 

Awards:

Robert Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honour in 1984.

• the Balzac Prize in 1986 (Honoré de Balzac)
• the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1983
• the Niépce Prize in 1956 (Nicéphore Niépce)
• the Kodak Prize in 1947

 Source: Wikipedia.