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Parisians like Paris. And they like to display they do.
Posters are the Parisians’ vector of choice to celebrate their affection for their city.
Putting up a poster of a Parisian monument would be such an outsider’s thing to do (though some lazy Parisians will opt for the series of picture related to the construction of the Eiffel Tower). The whole Aristide Bruant thing has been over for 15 years.
These days, a real Parisian prefers to put up on his wall, on his fridge, or in his toilettes a picture of Robert Doisneau. Robert Doisneau’s mid 20th century, black and white pictures, usually represent Parisians (lovers or children) in Paris. Doisneau’s pictures give to a room a gloomy/melancholic/artistic touch that Parisians cannot get enough of. The Paris represented in these photographs is the romantic, eternal and populaire Paris. Like Doisneau liked to say : « Ma photo, c’est le monde tel que je souhaite qu’il soit ». Parisians understand this very well. They too would like the world to be black and white, charming and melancholic.
As for all mainstream things in Paris, an implicit social classification exists. What you display on your walls defines where you stand socially. Where you stand socially defines what you display on your walls. The bottom of the Doisneau hierarchy is evidently his most well known photograph. ˜Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville”. All teenage Parisian girls own a reproduction of this picture. Adults putting up a poster of “Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville” send the clear message that either they have stuck to the teenage girl level or that they are unaware of existing social codes in Paris. Both lead to sheer ridicule and diminished social credit.
Which Doisneau picture the Parisian chooses to display in his home will help the visitor brush up a finer portrait of his host. Aspiring artists will cherish “Les Pains de Picasso”. Free thinkers will opt for « Les frères, rue du Docteur Lecène», smily carabins for “Regard Obique”. While school nostalgia is clearly displayed in “L’information scolaire, école rue Buffon”. A photo de Doisneau in a Parisian apartment is like a status quote on a Facebook profile: a key to one’s identity.
Parisian women have a special liking for Robert Doisneau. But Parisian men are happy to cope with his art work. Should conflicts appear about the relevance to display a Doisneau photograph on a wall, a typical Parisian trade-off is to opt for a Doisneau Photographs Coffee Table Book. Always a great hit when you have friends over. Flipping through the pages of the book, other Parisians will sit back in the couch, look at the pictures together and simply say: ‘J’l’adore celle-là, elle est trop bien’.
More than just Doisneau, Parisians know their arts.
Useful tip: Impress your friends by knowing another photographer besides Robert Doisneau.
Sound like a Parisian: « J’adooore Doisneau ».
Tags: artists, Le Baiser de l'hotel de ville, Paris, photographer, photography, Pictures, posters, Robert Doisneau
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Doisneau photographs are so iconic. Thanks for a great post, Olivier!
A question: do you think Parisians are mostly smitten with the older photographers of bygone Paris (Brassai, Boubat, Roger-Viollet, Ronis, Cartier-Bresson, etc., just to spout a few off the top of my head)?
Or do they like contemporary photography as well?
I’m glad to know that Real Parisians love Doisneau, in any case, because I used to think it was just an American nostalgia craze for a stereotype of France. Though we Yanks do love Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville (even if it was staged).
Ouch! those Parisian social codes….
I had “Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville” on my bedroom wall when I was 17-22. I am not sure what made me feel like it was no longer appropriate. But, I some how knew it. I knew it the same way I knew it was time to take down my poster of Michael Baryshnikov when I was 16.
Well, I bought a whole Robert Doisneau photobook YESTERDAY! But it’s for a friend of mine I’m gonna visit in NYC… Do you think it’s cheesy to bring this?
I like your “useful tip” very much
Nice blog.
Polly… merci! I hink Parisians are no different in that respect from other Human beings. We all have a certain melancholy for the past, the good old days. Contemporary photography can be quite compelling… but it is less exotic and charming in that respect. Those scenes are more familiar to us. So is photography itself. But some modern photographers are huge stars: Arthus-Bertrand just to name one…
LBR… Ca ne s’invente pas!!
Pierre… Well, as Polly said, Americans love Doisneau too, so you’re all set!! Always a safe present it is! It’d be cheesy to frame a Doisneau picture though: pas dans l’esprit!!
Rachete… merci – glad you like it!!
J’adore Cartier-Bresson…but I was browsing a Doisneau calendar the other day…
hmm I inherited a framed “Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville” from my sister who had it in her room when she was a teenager. I’m a grown up Parisian woman now and I’m aware that it is socially unacceptable for any adult to have it. It’s so… “romantique à la noix”, so “artistiquement peu evolué comme goût”, so “…elle met du vieux pain sur son balcon pour attirer les moineaux les pigeons… ” So I put it next to the wall on the floor, in a corner of my living room… and I don’t remove the dust on it to make it look as if it had been forgotten and I didn’t really care about it !
Si vous aimez Doisneau, faites donc un tour sur mon site !
Parisbreakfast… ouf!
Em… la négligence, le début du sex appeal!
Bailly… merci! Chouette site! Et très chouette sélection musicale! Merci!
[...] like, even including how to sound like one. And now, thanks to this blog, I’ve learned of Robert Doisneau. I’ll happily admit to being stunted at teenage girl tendencies and really, I don’t [...]
And what does it mean if one has ‘Un Regard Oblique’ on one’s wall?
Parisians do this and they do that. I suppose they are as different as other people in big cities. I resent your superficial approach to Doisneau and to the people who likes his work.
Peter… should I apologize to talk about Parisians in a blog dedicated to them? And besides this, I have the remote – yet totally – non chauvinistic hope that yes, indeed, peole in such or such city are different. Paris is no exception. Now, you resent my superficial approach to Doisneau. What if I resented your superficial approach to this blog (which obviously is nothing compared to the work of RD)? Peter, my recommendation: chill out, have a glass of wine, and try to laugh… obviously not to this blog, but hopefully to something!!