A Draft Chapter For My Personal Study...

"I never noticed time passing, I was too taken up with the spectacle afforded by my contemporaries, that gratuitous, never-ending show for which no ticket is needed, and when the occasion arose, I offered them, in passing, the ephemeral solace of an image." - Robert Doisneau 1936. [1]

With a career spanning the near entirety of the 20th Century. Robert Doisneau was given the opportunity to marvel at the evolving, ever-expanding society and culture of 1900's France. Along with this, he participated in the burgeon of technology. Armed with a Leica, Doisneau wandered the streets of Paris, with a sense of pure enthusiasm to capture the everyday business of innocent French drifters, children, workers and adventurers; mixing social classes and eccentrics in contemporary street cafes. Amidst this busy landscape, the potential for a collection of beautiful photographs arose - and Doisneau grasped this contingency with both hands.
    Doisneau's early works contrasts so harshly with his later work. Studying his earlier pieces of work (1912-1944) a common trait can be identified. The photos - other than the main subject - are very sparse in their content. The streets are abandoned and the numbers of people is barren. The lack of chiaroscuro highlights the general pattern of mid-tones and the empty greys that sweep through the photograph, and the use of negative space further accentuates the unoccupied and desolate streets. Perfect examples which showcase this work are photos such as 'Sent for the Milk' 1932 and 'D.I.Y. Farming' 1944. These photos both capture the natural and simple life people led during this era and supplements the idea of safe living and child street culture.
    Considering Doisneau's work and the condition of the streets today, there is one distinct object omitted - the car. This all ties in precisely with my question, and statement about Doisneau's later work contrasting his earlier work - as Doisneau's photographic skills advanced, the content of his photos changed and cars continually became a more apparent feature. This influx of automobiles grew with the general household's increasing expendable income and the mass production of cars becoming more common and versatile, all leading to a sudden impact of cars hitting the streets, changing the quiet, reserved lifestyle.

The Pack [2]

Doisneau constantly aimed for his work to look as natural as possible. This chaos ridden photograph, bleeds the essence of natural. Unlike his earlier work, there is decidedly a fair amount of different proceedings taking place. To break down this photo, dividing it into its foreground, mid-ground and background affords me to analyse thoroughly. Starting with the background, this is (looking at the light's gradient) the darkest part of the image. The tone of this section added with the lack of highlights makes this section of the image rather unclear and intensifies the chaos and confusion of all the cars bunched together - a far sight different than that of Doisneau's earlier pictures of the streets. The mid-ground of this image, in respect to the rest of the image is relatively quiet. Withal, each individual car has its own highlights and shadows which heighten the dynamics of the tone within the photo. The spacing of the cars retracts from the chaotic scene in the background, possibly connoting the difference between social classes within the French population; comparing personal topics such as financial struggles or living conditions. Moving onto the foreground of the image (the most important part). The chaos is immediately resumed by introducing silhouettes of a female figure pushing a young infant across this highly active road. The lines on the road align the viewers eyes promptly toward the figures, almost forcing the viewer to panic and question what happened in the split second after Doisneau captured the photo. The figures low luminance against the road's extremely light surface allows for an extremely high contrast between the two objects - again, initially driving the viewer's eyes toward the figures.  

Speedsters [3]

Likewise, 'Speedsters' goes hand in hand with 'The Pack' when analysed. Initially, the leading lines engages the viewers and draws their eyes towards the dusty, decrepit car. The sharp line of the kerb seduce the viewer, allowing them to naturally be drawn to the object. Correspondingly, the lines the buildings host, affords the viewer to look down, again at the car. The distinct lack of contrast in the image makes it appear flat and less striking as such. This channels the appearance, making the colors within the image define objects. The eye is also drawn towards the dark shadow on the left hand side of the image. The contrasting this alluring shadow creates, attracts the viewer to consider the small child seated in a small, replica toy car. Doisneau has been able to capture the small child's pure wonder and amazement at this bigger version of what he is seated in. Such expression leaves questions pondering on the mind of the viewer - asking themselves, "just what is going through this innocent, young child's mind?".

'Doisneau's legacy is a few minutes of eternity frozen onto photographic paper: a few minutes of wonder and emotion through which he contrives to tell us, image by image, stories full of poetry and humour. He enchants us by his capacity to communicate the fleeting but integral relation of complicity between the photographer and the man or woman that he photographs: 'One should take a photo only when he feels full of love for one's fellow - man'. But careful analysis reveals a depth and reflective quality in his work that undoubtedly modify and enrich our sense of it. His humour is perhaps a key to this interpretation Doisneau is an intuitive master of the absurd and the unusual; so often, the slightest divergence of conventional or slenderest illusion contrives a completely new meaning.'  - Jean-Claude Gautrand 2006 [1]

The initial sentence of the above quote, personally, I feel sums up Doisneau's photography perfectly. His natural ability to capture the pure essence of all description and classifications of people, going about their everyday business, whilst not startling, or alarming them, letting him capture a portfolio of France with a high verisimilitude.





Sources:
[1] Book: Robert Doisneau Icons - Jean-Claude Gautrand Published 2003.
[2] Image: http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2013/09/paris-1969.html
[3] Image: http://liquidnight.tumblr.com/post/6203158039/robert-doisneau-speedsters-1946-from-icons