Book review: Robert Doisneau

If photography books about France keep you riveted for hours, then this career-spanning collection of works by Robert Doisneau, who’s perhaps the most celebrated Gallic lensman – toss a coin twixt him and Henri Cartier- Bresson – will have you positively salivating.

As the highly literate foreword by Doisneau’s daughters Francine and Annette states, photography is now acknowledged by the intellectual elite – historians and philosophers, for example – as a true art form. But beyond the beautifully framed moments in time which capture everyday French life, we also glean that the man himself was ever open to others, and usually smiling and relaxed, in order to gain the confidence of his many subjects.

This is the perfect addition to any photography-loving Francophile’s library, but please do be careful that your coffee table doesn’t buckle under the weight of this – literally
and metaphorically – hefty tome.

[mrb]

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