Pain et Rideau de Fer
Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
1953
A gelatin silver print by Robert Doisneau that freezes a fleeting, everyday moment—two women paused at a storefront—intended to reveal character and social texture through a candid street encounter.
The image feels immediate and intimate: a tight, close-up composition sets the women against a corrugated metal shutter so their faces, the flash on round spectacles, and a baguette tucked under an arm read like a terse, human story.
A hallmark of postwar humanist street photography, the picture helped popularize a candid, empathetic approach to everyday urban life that shaped how documentary photographers framed ordinary people and moments.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
16 1/8 × 11 13/16" (41 × 30 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Hunter
Accession
396.1992.7
Palette
Exhibitions
