Accordionist Playing in a Bistro near Les Halles, Paris
Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
c. 1950
A gelatin silver print photograph by Robert Doisneau that quietly stages an accordionist playing in a modest Paris bistro to capture an intimate moment of everyday urban life.
A vertical pillar slices the frame so that the left shows a young woman holding an accordion and meeting the camera with a steady, near-defiant gaze while the right presents a weary diner hunched over his meal amid bottles and a scrawled menu, creating a tense, human tableau.
Made around 1950, this work exemplifies postwar French humanist street photography that turned ordinary café and street scenes into poetic, empathetic records of working‑class life and helped shape documentary and street‑photographic practice.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
11 5/8 × 9 5/16" (29.6 × 23.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
148.1959
Palette
Exhibitions
