'The Kiss'

It's odd how a small train of events can suddenly catapult one back in time, ok, so in this case only maybe 15-20 years but the unexpected sighting of a picture in the sidebar of Toasted Crumpet reminded me of a news item I heard yesterday and the two things together took me back those years.

There was a time, when I did a 'real' job, a job I loved and with responsibility, a job where I was able to make my own decisions and success or failure was in my own hands. Unfortunately the job didn't like me and after a number of years I had to leave, but that is another story.

The business I worked for retailed prints, both modern and fine art and was closely involved with publishers and in publication. One picture that we published at the time was 'The kiss', a Robert Doisneau picture taken many years before in 1950 in Paris. It had been published before but it's republish was a great success and tens of thousands of copies were sold. This image came to represent the essence of love and romance for at least one generation, many years after it was photographed.

Yesterday it was reported in the news that the female subject in the image had sold her original copy for a sum far in excess of what was expected, £105,000. What was disappointing was to learn that this picture, that had been such a representation of romance for so many was infact staged. Yes, she and her boyfriend of the time were a real couple and yes, Mr Doisneau came upon them by chance in the street but the actual shot used was staged......What's more, the couple only remained in each others company for a few months!

All that said, it remains one of my favourite images, reminds me of a good time in my life and given 105k, just how much would I love to own the original?!

Enjoy.

(Click to enlarge)

'The Kiss' ~ Robert Doisneau.