Henri Cartier-BressonSaturday in the Synagogue, Leningrad, 1973 - Henri Cartier-Bresson 1973
1973
About the Item
- Creator:Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 - 2004, French)
- Creation Year:1973
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 14 in (35.56 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU886833852
Henri Cartier-Bresson
The late photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson spent his long and varied career traveling the world and capturing images of everyone from children to cultural icons.
Beautiful but unsentimental street photography of children was one of the surprises offered by the sweeping survey “The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson,” at Peter Fetterman Gallery, in Santa Monica, California, in 2021. Some of the images are iconic, like Cartier-Bresson’s historic 1950s photographs for Life magazine of a newly Communist China and his portraits of cultural lions like Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti and Samuel Beckett. But nearly half the images, Fetterman said, were printed specifically at the gallery’s request and had not been widely exhibited or published.
One of the most striking discoveries was a 1954 image of five Russian girls standing in second position at a wrought-iron-and-wood ballet barre. The coolly elegant blond girl closest to the camera looks no more than 10 or 12 years old, but her calf muscles are as defined as those of an adult track star. “Rue Mouffetard, Paris,” from 1954, captures a boy grinning from ear to ear as he walks along a city street toward the lens — and presumably toward home — carrying with chin jutted out and visible pride a wine bottle under each arm. This picture, in which all elements conspire to highlight the boy’s swagger (notice the girls noticing the boy), is an illustration of capturing “the decisive moment,” which Cartier-Bresson famously defined and which modernists took as the ultimate goal of photography, although others later were more skeptical.
Born in 1908 in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France, the oldest of five children, Cartier-Bresson studied art and literature in school, refusing to join his father’s prosperous textile business. In 1931, he traveled to Africa to hunt wild game and found that he preferred a different kind of shoot: taking pictures with a small box camera.
On his return to France, Cartier-Bresson bought a Leica with a 50mm lens — the camera he called the “extension of my eye” and used for decades. He soon began working as a photojournalist, traveling the globe to capture everyday moments as well as some of the defining political events of the 20th century, from Gandhi’s funeral in 1948 and the fall of the Kuomintang in China in 1949 to the student uprising in Paris in 1968.
Cartier-Bresson was himself caught up in conflict. A French army officer during World War II, he was detained as a prisoner of war by the Nazis, prompting rumors he’d been killed. His photography was taken seriously enough at this time that the Museum of Modern Art in New York began preparing what it believed would be a posthumous retrospective of his work. The show took place in 1947, when the photographer was abundantly alive and well, and busy cofounding the great photo agency Magnum. MoMA has been a guardian and champion of his work ever since.
Find original Henri Cartier-Bresson black-and-white photography on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: London, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Bakersfield, California, 1983 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography)By Elliott ErwittLocated in London, GBBakersfield, California, 1983 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography) Signed, inscribed with title and dated on accompanying artist’s label Silver gelatin print, printed later...Category
20th Century Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Daytona Beach, Florida, 1975 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography)By Elliott ErwittLocated in London, GBDaytona Beach, Florida, 1975 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography) Signed, inscribed with title and dated on accompanying artist’s label Silver gelatin print, printed later ...Category
20th Century Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Mentawai Climbing a Gigantic Tree, Siberut Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 2008By Sebastião SalgadoLocated in London, GBMentawai Climbing a Gigantic Tree, Siberut Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 2008 - Sebastião Salgado Stamped with photographer's copyright blind stamp Signed, inscribed on reverse Si...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Maper Payem Area, Rumbek District, South Sudan, 2001 - Sebastião SalgadoBy Sebastião SalgadoLocated in London, GBMaper Payem Area, Rumbek District, South Sudan, 2001 Sebastião Salgado Stamped with photographer's copyright blind stamp Signed, inscribed on reverse Silver gelatin print 16 x 20 inc...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- France, Loire Valley, 1952 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography)By Elliott ErwittLocated in London, GBFrance, Loire Valley, 1952 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography) Signed, inscribed with title and dated on accompanying artist’s label Silver gelatin print, printed later A...Category
Late 20th Century Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- France, Paris, 1952 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography)By Elliott ErwittLocated in London, GBFrance, Paris, 1952 - Elliott Erwitt (Black and White Photography) Signed, inscribed with title and dated on accompanying artist’s label Silver gelatin print, printed later Availabl...Category
Late 20th Century Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Flutter, Contemporary black and white photo, butterflies, very rare, still lifeBy Osheen HarruthoonyanLocated in Kinderhook, NYA pair of gold toned silver gelatin prints of butterflies. The prints are 5.5 x 6.5 inches each and framed as a diptych with 8 ply museum mattboard. Framed dimension are 12.5x18 inc...Category
2010s Contemporary Still-life Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
- St John's College, Oxford 1920s photograph by Hills & SaundersLocated in London, GBTo see our other Oxford and Cambridge pictures, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot find the view you want. Hills...Category
1920s Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Tracks to War, New Jersey, 1943, Black and White Photograph, Signed, FramedBy Art ShayLocated in Chicago, IL“Art Shay’s photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, pats you on the head and then kicks you in the ass.” Roger Ebert “[Shay’s work] ranks with some of the greats of the 20...Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Lovejoy AKA Brooklyn, Illinois, Sisters for Ebony Magazine, 1952, by Art ShayBy Art ShayLocated in Chicago, ILArt Shay Brooklyn: Sisters, 1952 silver gelatin print 24.25 x 20.25 framed ASY103 Art Shay photographed the community of Brooklyn, IL for Ebony Magazine, 1952. These photographs are the result of that experience. Brooklyn (popularly known as Lovejoy), is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located two miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and three miles northeast of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated by African Americans in the United States. It was founded by freed and fugitive slaves from St. Louis, led by "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore in the period of 1829 to 1839. Its motto is "Founded by Chance, Sustained by Courage". “Art Shay’s photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, pats you on the head and then kicks you in the ass.” Roger Ebert “[Shay’s work] ranks with some of the greats of the 20th century.” Ellen & Richard Sandor, Renowned photo collectors “I’ve admired Art Shay’s work for almost forty years, and he keeps getting better. He can do anything with a camera, but what he mostly does is capture real moments and transform them into visual poetry. His work continues to be an inspiration to me.” William Friedkin, Director of French Connection “Art Shay is one of our finest photographers. His work over the past fifty years has artfully captured the beauty, humor, and pathos of America.” Studs Terkel “Art Shay is one of the best photojournalists I know. I’ve been a fan of his work since the early 1950s - before the launch of playboy magazine.” Hugh Hefner Algren, Terkel, Royko, they gave us a voice. Art Shay gave us a face.” Tony Fitzpatrick, Chicago Artist “Art Shay is America’s Cartier-Bresson.” Thomas Dyja, author of The Third Coast “Chicago’s Art Shay in many ways is to American photography what Nelson Algren was to American writing: that rare and absolutely necessary citizen who’s blessed with a cold eye, a clear head, and a warm heart. What is it about Chicago that keeps giving us men like this?” Russell Banks, Novelist “The best images of Simone de Beauvoir and her times have been passed down to us by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gisele Freund, Robert Doisneau, Georges Brassai, and in America, the Chicago-based Art Shay, all world-class photographers.” Christophe Loviny, Art Editor, Paris “Art Shay is the best photo-journalist Chicago ever produced.” Arthur Siegel...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Young Pool Shark, Chicago 1949, Black & White Photograph, Framed, SignedBy Art ShayLocated in Chicago, IL“Art Shay’s photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, pats you on the head and then kicks you in the ass.” Roger Ebert “[Shay’s work] ranks with some of the greats of the 20...Category
1940s Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Hyomon, Study 1, Hokkaido, Japan, black and white, limited edition photographBy Michael KennaLocated in Sante Fe, NMHyomon, Study 1, Hokkaido, Japan is a black and white, limited edition photograph by photographer Michael Kenna. Michael Kenna is a master of contemporary photography. Known for c...Category
2010s Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin