Robert Doisneau’s Musicians

When asked about his favourite musicians, the famous photographer Robert Doisneau mischievously remarked, “With such an uncultivated ear, my opinion’s of no importance.”

As an ethnographer of his day, Robert Doisneau was curious enough to visit every kind of place. Armed with his indispensable camera, he explored Paris and its suburbs from end to end. From street balls to brass bands and cabarets, he met with the jazz musicians and stars of the time. Doisneau was a showman who felt that pictures had to be staged and was always delighted to be commissioned by newspapers to immortalise such legends as Georges Brassens, Juliette Gréco, Charles Aznavour or Claude François… and, of course, his cellist friend Maurice Baquet.

Far from wallowing in nostalgia, the exhibition reveals another, more unexpected side to the photographer: a man with his eye firmly on the future, delighted to celebrate a new generation of Eighties musicians, including Les Rita Mitsouko and Les Négresses Vertes, along with Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Boulez.

In this exhibition, often previously unseen photographs of these meetings have been brought together for the first time. All these photos paint a picture of a hardworking man who spent his life pursuing the unforeseeable and surprising.

The exhibition is organised in partnership with the Atelier Robert Doisneau.