Robert Doisneau

Doisneau’s sympathetic yet sharp-eyed photography helped show life as it was: a true poet. As a young man, he met the aged Atget. Sent to photograph Cendrars, Doisneau and he became close accomplices; similarly with Jacques Prévert. Kertesz was one of Doisneau’s heroes (they were photographed together); Penn, he said, was very kind to him. He met Cartier-Bresson at an agency both worked for; despite his admiration for and close friendship with Cartier-Bresson, Seymour and Capa, he decided not to join Magnum. He photographed Corbusier over several years, Johns and Beckett together, as well as his friend Mac Orlan.