Doisneau: Portraits of the Artists

During the golden age when Montparnasse was teeming with artists, Robert Doisneau gained remarkable access to the artists working in Paris from 1937 onwards, and he visited their studios and caught them in various private moments: working, reflecting, and even playing with their children. This book, which includes some previously unpublished photographs, shares Doisneau’s intimate view on the work and lives of these artists. Many remain famous - Picasso, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Giacometti, Saul Steinberg, Marcel Duchamp, Le Corbusier, Foujita - while others have fallen into obscurity, perhaps one day to be rediscovered. Regardless of the artist’s social status - whether major figure of the day or struggling newcomer - Doisneau approached each subject with the same humble eye. His signature black-and-white photographs capture the nostalgia of the period and bear witness to these artists in the act of creating some of the world’s finest art. This book, published in cooperation with Doisneau’s daughters, is a fascinating document of the daily lives of artists by one of the world’s most famous and popular photographers.

Robert Doisneau (1912–1994) worked as an industrial photographer at Renault, a photojournalist for the Alliance Photo agency, and a staff photographer at Vogue, and he pursued creative projects that won him worldwide acclaim. He received the Kodak Award (1947) and the Nièpce Prize (1956), and held many solo exhibitions. Since his death, major retrospectives of his work have been held in Paris, at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the Bruce Silverstein gallery in New York. Robert Doisneau: Paris was published by Flammarion in 2005.