Google Doodle Celebrates Paris Photojournalist Robert Doisneau

Google Doodle

Google today commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the birth of key French photographer Robert Doisneau

Doisneau is attributed as a pioneer of photojournalism, taking his Leica on the streets of Paris and documenting the dynamic lives of the city. He is best known for his 1950 image Le baiser de l’hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall), a photo of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. This is one of the shots used in today’s photo/logo collage

Another photograph used is on the doodle is the 1943 image that depicts two children playing near the Eiffel Tower titled Le Remorqueur du Champ de Mars (Tug on the Champ de Mars). The other two photographs used show a woman at the 19th-century monument to French writer Guy de Maupassant’s, and a dog on wheels from 1977.

Robert Doisneau is famous for his quietly ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. He was influenced massively by the work of André Kertész, Eugène Atget, and, most importantly, Henri Cartier-Bresson. ‘The marvels of daily life are so exciting’, he said; ‘no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street’.

Earlier this month a Google Doodle commemorated Eadweard Muybridge – the pioneering photographer and forefather of modern filmmaking. He is revered for his innovative work in animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion. He is also remembered for his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip. 

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