Robert Doisneau Photo Exhibition
Part 1. The Suburbs of Paris: Beyond the City Walls

About the exhibition

The FUJIFILM SQUARE Photo History Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of the photographs of Robert Doisneau, often hailed as the national photographer of France. It will be held in two parts, Part 1. The Suburbs of Paris: Beyond the City Walls and Part 2. Origins of “Three Seconds of Eternity”.

Known as a “fisher of images,” Doisneau possessed extraordinary insight and a playful sensibility, capturing the hidden dramas of everyday life and cultivating an inimitable visual world. The Paris suburbs are a place intrinsically linked to Doisneau, who was born in 1912 in Gentilly, a southern suburb of Paris, and lived on the city's outskirts throughout his life. Historically, these suburbs, once cut off from Paris by walls surrounding the city, have been home to the impoverished and immigrants.

Compelled to work from his teens, Doisneau earned a diploma in engraving and lithography and, at 19, became an assistant to photographer André Vigneau. In 1932, he fulfilled a long-held dream by purchasing a Rolleiflex camera. Doisneau said of the Rolleiflex, “You hold the camera at the center of your body and have to bend down to take a picture. You ended up bowing before the subject, as if in prayer.” Because the user had to gaze downward while lining up the shot, this camera was ideal for the introverted Doisneau. He began using it to prolifically capture the suburban scenery, maintaining a respectful distance from his subjects. Doisneau remarked, “Being shy isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allowed me to keep my distance from people. This meant that space emerged around my subjects, which was precisely what I aimed to capture.” He produced riveting images of his subjects, their far from ideal living conditions, and their surroundings. His photographs seem to reflect his complex and ambiguous emotions toward the place where he was born and raised, and toward his fellow suburban denizens.

With the encouragement of the poet Blaise Cendrars, Doisneau's photographs of the Paris suburbs were published in 1949 in his first photo book The Suburbs of Paris. This collection of works, containing 300 photographs initially dismissed as of “zero market value,” became a foundational document that announced the arrival of an extraordinary talent.

This exhibition showcases selected photographs from Doisneau's The Suburbs of Paris, delving into the photographer's origins on the 30th anniversary of his death this year.