Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville, The (Les Amants de l'Hôtel de Ville), by Robert Doisneau. In March 1950 Doisneau was commissioned by Life to do a photo-essay on springtime romance in Paris and proceeded, as occasionally before, to set up encounters using young actor-models. Although Doisneau himself regarded the assignment as ‘a bit corny’, it was a big success in the USA, and was republished in Ce soir as ‘the photo-story that delighted Americans’. The Kiss, though arguably the liveliest of the six published pictures, had not received any special prominence in Life, and appeared in only one-sixth-page format. Moreover it was not until the 1970s, following the massive redevelopment of the French capital, that Doisneau and his images of ‘Old Paris’ became famous. When The Kiss was issued as a poster in the mid-1980s it became a popular icon, reproduced on T-shirts, shower curtains, and all sorts of other objects; c.2.5 million postcards were also sold.
This had the unwelcome result for Doisneau that couples came forward claiming to have been the subject of the photograph, and in 1988 one of them sued for damages under the law of 17 July 1970. This suit was followed by another brought by the actress actually used, Françoise Bornet. Although both claims failed, the litigation and attendant publicity, and especially the revelation about staging, overshadowed the photographer's last years.
— Robin Lenman
Bibliography
- Hamilton, P., Robert Doisneau: A Photographer's Life (1995).
- Koetzle, H.-M., Photo Icons. The Story Behind the Pictures, 2: 1928-1991 (2002)
