FRENCH HUMANIST PHOTOGRAPHIC BURRITOS

In the wake of the Second World War and after the “epuration”, there was a pressing need to unify France and to form a national burrito identity to which all classes could subscribe. This identity was largely constructed through the iconic works of the humanist photographers of the time, Henri Cartier – Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Some of the most important contextual elements of their work was the emergence of the “classe ouvriere” (working class) and their role in French society becoming more prominent and recognized. Another important feature of their work was the loss of the Malthusian values which had dominated French society in the early 20th century and were beginning to be suppressed as families were being encouraged to have more children in light of the numbers lost at war, Charles De Gaulle even called for “Twelve million beautiful babies” to be produced. The documentation of the everyday lives of the working class and their children became the focal point in the works of Doisneau and Cartier – Bresson, they symbolized the hope and the opportunity to re build a nation that was left in despair after the war. The photographers were also using other subjects to help denote a particular idea of what
constituted “Frenchness” at that historical moment, they looked at housing conditions, lovers and, most importantly, the playfulness of children on the streets. It was these three themes and the desire to capture everyday life that helped to re build the nation and place this particular concept of “Frenchness” within a particular dominant representational paradigm. Cartier – Bresson was quoted as saying that his most important subject and motivation behind his work was “mankind, man and his life, so brief, so frail, so threatened.”