“A sideways glance” — Paris and the Parisians of Robert Doisneau (6 photos)

Perhaps no other photograph has been analyzed so thoroughly. It has been discussed in the fields of sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis and gender studies almost since the day Robert Doisneau took it in 1948.





What did the French photographer want to say? Is it really a mockery of women, an exploitation of the naked body, an embodiment of voyeurism and so on? Or did he want to show the true face of family life? Or maybe just a joke?



It was post-war Paris, where Doisneau had a lot of work: French newspapers and magazines began to come out again, and foreign publications appeared. But, trying to capture the true appearance of the city and its inhabitants, the photographer avoided staged shots as much as he could. As he later recalled, he could sit in one place for days, waiting for something interesting to happen.

Here is the series of photographs Un Regard Oblique, "A Sideways Look", he shot for two days - without the slightest staged action, in the style of a "hidden camera". In the wide window of one of the art galleries in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, several paintings were on display, including the very one, quite frank in content. Doisneau set up his camera opposite the window, hiding it behind an antique armchair - so that people outside the camera could not see. And he began to wait for the reaction of unsuspecting passers-by.

Who hasn't come up to the window: elderly women, laughing young men, and stern gendarmes. The famous shot that gave the name to the entire series was taken last. Incidentally, among the pictures there is one that is diametrically opposed to "Slanted View": in it, a girl is looking at a nude painting, and a young man, on the contrary, is looking at the one standing in the center.



Let's remember once again that this is Paris, the city of love, where the worship of beauty, especially female, is elevated to the rank of a cult. And the man who glances sideways at the painting behind his wife's back is behaving like a true Parisian - he admires what causes admiration.

Doisneau was also a Parisian. He was also a very modest man who, at the beginning of his career as a photographer, did not dare to photograph people, just so as not to disturb them. Even his most famous shot, "Kiss at City Hall", he was forced to stage, contrary to all his convictions, because he could not just photograph a young couple kissing. What if they were against it, what if they were meeting in secret...



By the way, it was "Kiss at City Hall", despite all the precautions of the author, that caused him great trouble: because of this photograph, Doisneau was sued twice. On the contrary, none of those captured by his lens during the "Sideways Look" had any complaints about the photographer. Although it is quite possible that the gentleman in the first picture, if his wife did see that very frame one day, got it in the neck.