Robert Doisneau valuation
French photographer of the streets and people of Paris, and of The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville.
Robert Doisneau (1912–1994) was born in Gentilly, south of Paris, and trained at the École Estienne, graduating in 1929 with diplomas in engraving and lithography.
What a work by Robert Doisneau is worth
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation is free, made online from the photographs you send, and it commits you to nothing. We act for sellers across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
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Bio
Robert Doisneau (1912–1994) was born in Gentilly, south of Paris, and trained at the École Estienne, graduating in 1929 with diplomas in engraving and lithography. In the 1930s he worked as an industrial and advertising photographer at the Renault factory in Boulogne-Billancourt, then for the Rapho agency, travelling France for picture stories. After the war, in which he served as a soldier and photographer, he photographed the streets, cafés, children and suburbs of Paris with an eye for comedy and the unexpected, and from 1948 he was under contract to Vogue as a fashion photographer. Le Baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville (1950), a couple kissing on a busy street, became famous around the world. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1984.
What comes to market is mostly gelatin silver prints, and the difference between a print made at the time and a later one, often larger and printed for exhibition or sale from the 1980s onwards, matters more than anything else. A buyer will want the stamps, signature and annotations on the reverse, and prints of Le Baiser in particular need care, since the picture has been printed and reproduced in great numbers. The Atelier Robert Doisneau, run by his family, looks after the archive. Prints should be checked for silvering, scuffs and creases.
At a glance
- Born
- 14 April 1912, Gentilly
- Died
- 1 April 1994
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