Robert Doisneau and the Making of a Universal Cliché

摘要

This article explores the theme of photographic universality through a close examination of the widely reproduced image The Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville (1950) by Robert Doisneau. It considers to what extent this image can be constructed as a French photograph, located within a particular national paradigm of photographic humanism, suggesting that the image may be more appropriately accommodated in a historical rather than a national perspective, as its photographic signifiers allude to a technological past that may be as important an aspect of its continued popularity as its iconic depiction of a ‘typically French’ motif.