Le Baiser du Trottoir (Kiss on the Sidewalk)

Robert Doisneau, artist

1912–1994

Le Baiser du Trottoir (Kiss on the Sidewalk), 1950

Portfolio/Series title: Doisneau Portfolio

Where object was made: France

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 24.3 x 30.5 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 9 9/16 x 12 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Myers

Accession number: 1984.0181

Not on display

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Archive Label:
This young couple kisses in an embrace so intense that they seem totally unaware that they are in a public space and surrounded by passers-by. Yet, recent litigation has revealed that the picture was posed. A woman who claims to have been paid to model for the photograph has requested a royalty payment for the countless times the image has been reproduced. That the scene was staged and not found suggests that we read the picture not as a document of actual human relations or emotions but as an artistic evocation of ideas held by Doisneau about emotions.