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.
Jacques Tati and Alain Becourt - Photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson - 1958
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Roma, IT
Vintage b/w photograph realized by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1958. Copyright: Magnum Photos and Agenzia Contrasto. Excellent condition.
Photographic Paper
Marilyn Monroe
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed in ink on recto
Silver Gelatin
$6,864Sale Price|20% Off
Henri Cartier-Bresson -- Barrio Chino, Barcelona
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in BRUCE, ACT
Henri Cartier-Bresson Barrio Chino, Barcelona, 1933 This example was printed later Signed in ink lower right Edition 65/75 in lower left Image: 35.7 x 23.6 cm Sheet: 56 x 37.8 cm ...
Photogravure
Aquila Degli Abruzzi, Italy
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed in ink on recto Gelatin silver print Image: 14 x 9 1/2 inches, Paper: 15 7/8 x 12 inches, Mat: 20 x 16
Silver Gelatin
$319
L'imaginaire d'Après Nature, Offset, Modern Style, Signed, 1983, Unframed
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Roma, IT
Vintage poster realized after a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Published by Opera Universitaria - Rome - 1983. Very good condition.
Offset
$3,655
Les Européens Photographies - Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson - 1955
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Roma, IT
Volume including a selection of 114 black and white photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson from 1950 to 1955. Original boards illustrated after a design by Joan Mirò. First Edition. Ve...
Paper
$146Sale Price|20% Off
Gino Marotta. Naturale / Virtuale, Offset, Modern Style, Signed, 1979, Unframed
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Roma, IT
Gino Marotta. Naturale / Virtuale is an offset realized by Gino Marotta in 1979. The poster is for the exhibition "Natural/Virtual" of the artist in the famous Rondanini Gallery in ...
Offset
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rome, Italy, Black and White Print, Signed, c. 1990
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in London, GB
Signed Silver gelatin print, printed circa 1990 Image 17 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches Paper 20 x 15 3/4 inches Henri Cartier-Bresson is perhaps the most significant photographer of the twent...
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
On the Banks of the Marne
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer
Silver Gelatin
Henri Matisse at His Home, 'le Reve', Vence, France
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in London, GB
Stamped with photographer's copyright ink stamp on reverse
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Siphnos, Greece
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
signed by artist in ink with artist's embossed stamp on recto
Silver Gelatin
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
By Lora Webb Nichols
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas, free shipping and a 14 day return policy. Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928 15 x 12 inch gelatin silver print Image Size: 14 x 8.5 inches Frame size: 22.5 x 17.5 x 2 inches Edition of 15 Lora Webb Nichols was born in 1883 and grew up in the small mining town of Encampment, Wyoming. At the age of 16 Lora received her first camera and from that moment and for the next few decades she produced work that is both stunning in its singular voice and revealing in the world it opens up for us. At first Nichols photographed her family, friends, and the landscape around Encampment, but when the town experienced a copper mining boom Nichols expanded her scope to become a photographer for hire shooting portraits and industrial photographs. When the boom collapsed, Nichols took the risk of opening her own business in Encampment - The Rocky Mountain Studio - which opened in 1925. The studio ran for ten years, accumulating 24,000 negatives that illustrate the lives and environment of the people living in and around the town while creating a distinctive and surprising body of work. If one was to attempt an analogy – Nichols’ pictures fit somewhere between Lartigue and Lange - joyful and generous while objectively intimate. In particular what seems to distinguish Nichols’ work is the way she sees the world from a female perspective. As Vince Aletti...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled Portrait
By Seydou Keïta
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy. Seydou Keïta Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158) 23...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Henry Grossman, Bobby Kennedy, Election campaign, 1968
By Henry Grossman
Located in Cologne, DE
Henry Grossman, Bobby Kennedy (Robert Francis Kennedy (1925–1968)), Election campaign, 1968, Vintage
Silver Gelatin
Rome - Via Appia 1954
By Erich Andres
Located in Cologne, DE
Silver Gelatine Print by Erich Andres, ca 1950. Andres was born 1905 in Germany and passed away 1992. He started his career as a photographer in 1920. He was one of the first photogr...
Silver Gelatin
$1,250
H 7.625 in W 9.625 in D 0.07 in
John Arnt Photograph of Don Erdahl #1 Seattle 1953 Vintage Gelatin Silver
Located in Glenford, NY
American photographer John Arnt (Jon C. Arnt 1906-1982) extremely rare, original vintage gelatin silver photograph of model Don Erdahl, full frontal composition, Seattle, circa 1953....
Silver Gelatin
$600
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
BRUCE BELLAS 1950 VINTAGE MALE NUDE BEEFCAKE PHOTOGRAPH OF JERRY SULLIVAN
By Bruce Bellas / Bruce of Los Angeles
Located in Glenford, NY
Bruce Bellas • Bruce of Los Angeles • photograph of model Jerry Sullivan in his Los Angeles studio in 1950. Photo is Original Vintage Gelatin S...
Silver Gelatin
$875
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1950s Photograph of "Beefcake" model GENE STAGGS #2
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare early 1950s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of bodybuilder and model GENE STAGGS. This is #2 of two images of Stag...
Silver Gelatin
$600
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
LON OF NY ALONZO HANAGAN RARE 1940 VINTAGE MALE NUDE PHOTOGRAPH JACK DEAL
Located in Glenford, NY
Alonzo Hanagan, Lon of New York, Original Vintage Nude Photograph of Jack Deal at Rockaway Beach, circa 1940. Alonzo James Hanagan (1911–1999), working under the pseudonym "Lon of ...
Silver Gelatin
Return of the Jedi 1983 Original Vintage Poster
Located in London, GB
Return of the Jedi 1983 Original Vintage Poster measures 27×41" inches / 68 x 104 cm unfolded rolled excellent condition Return of the Jedi (also known as Star Wars: Episode VI ...
Paper, C Print
$1,750
H 31 in W 31 in D 0.1 in
"Oscar" Black & White Photography 31" x 31" inch Edition of 7 by Olha Stepanian
By Olha Stepanian
Located in Culver City, CA
"Oscar" Black & White Photography 31" x 31" inch Edition of 7 by Olha Stepanian Printed on Epson Professional Paper Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued b...
Photographic Paper
$1,599
H 19 in W 14 in D 1 in
Saraswati, Figurative, Mythology by Raja Ravi Verma "In Stock"
By Raja Ravi Varma
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Raja Ravi Varma - Laxmi, 19 x 14 inches Oleograph with embellishments, Circa (Unframed & Delivered) Raja Ravi Varma (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist...
Paper, Mixed Media
$650
H 17 in W 14 in
Au Louvre: La Peinture (Mary Cassatt), Impressionist Collotype after Edgar Degas
By Edgar Degas
Located in Long Island City, NY
Edgar Degas, After, French (1834 - 1917) - Au Louvre: La Peinture (Mary Cassatt), Portfolio: Twenty Four Masterpieces of Graphic Art, Year: Year Printed 1974, Medium: Collotype, I...
Photogravure
$75
H 27.5 in W 19.75 in D 0.1 in
The Little Prince and His Asteroid B 612, Modern Offset Print, 2010-
By Antoine de saint Exupery
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This limited edition color lithograph, titled The Little Prince and His Asteroid, is a beautiful reproduction from the beloved book cover of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupé...
Offset
$788
H 20.48 in W 16.54 in D 0.04 in
Femme Nu, Lithograph, Modern, 1952, Framed, Excellent
By Henri Matisse
Located in OPOLE, PL
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) - Femme Nu Photogravure from 1952. Dimensions of work: 35.5 x 26.4 cm Publisher: Tériade, Paris. The work is in Excellent condition. Fast and secure sh...
Photogravure
$999
H 40 in W 25.25 in D 0.05 in
Original ARIZONA - Fly TWA (Airlines) vintage travel poster, Austin Briggs
By Austin Briggs
Located in Spokane, WA
Original ARIZONA, Fly TWA (Airlines) vintage travel poster. Archival linen backed in excellent condition, ready to frame. Grade A. Images shown are of the exact poster you will ...
Offset
Meudon
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Roma, RM
Henri Cartier Bresson (Chanteloup-en-Brie 1908 - Céreste 2004), Meudon (1964) later printed Silver gelatin print, image 24 x 36 cm, sheet 30 x 40 cm, dedication and signature at lo...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film
Swimmers
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New York, NY
This photogravure was taken by the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson. He is long considered one of the greatest photographers of people and done in such a way that his images speak over ...
Photogravure
Roman Amphitheater, Valencia, Spain
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New York, NY
Signed in ink in the margin, includes black frame with white mat. Henri Cartier-Bresson intuitively chronicled decisive moments of human life around the world with poetic documentar...
Silver Gelatin
HENRI MATISSE, VENCE, FRANCE
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Aventura, FL
Gelatin silver print. Printed circa 1970s. Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin. Sheet size 11.75 x 17.625 inches. Image size approx 9.5 x 14 inches. Frame siz...
Paper, Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 14 in W 9.5 in
Bougival, Yvelines, France, 1956 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White)
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in London, GB
Bougival, Yvelines, France, 1956 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White) Signed and stamped with the photographer's blind stamp Silver gelatin print, printed 1980s 11 x 14 inches ...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 14 in W 9.5 in
Tarascon, France, 1959 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White Photography)
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in London, GB
Tarascon, France, 1959 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White Photography) Signed and stamped with photographers blindstamp Silver gelatin print 16 x 20 inches Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), arguably the most significant photographer of the twentieth-century, was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos in 1947 and champion of the “decisive moment...
Silver Gelatin
Queen Charlotte's Ball
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
What makes Henri Cartier-Bresson’s vast body of work so universally impressive is that he was seemingly present at every significant event and in the intimate company of every import...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 11 in W 14 in
Ivry-Sur-Seine, 1955 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White Photography)
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in London, GB
Ivry-Sur-Seine, 1955 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (Black and White Photography) Signed and stamped with photographer's blind stamp Silver gelatin print, printed 1980s 11 x 14 inches Henr...
Silver Gelatin
HENRI MATISSE, VENCE, FRANCE
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Aventura, FL
Gelatin silver print. Printed circa 1970s. Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin. Sheet size 11.75 x 17.625 inches. Image size approx 9.5 x 14 inches. Frame siz...
Paper, Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 13.5 in W 9 in
Cape Cod Woman on the Fourth of July, Documentary Portrait Photography
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New york, NY
As to 4th of July, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, 1947, Henri Cartier-Bresson said about his portrait: "This woman explained to me that the flagpole over her door was broken but on a ...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Rangoon, Burma, vintage gelatin silver print, stamped
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New york, NY
Rangoon, Burma, 1948 by legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is a vintage gelatin silver print, stamped verso. Burmese girl...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 12 in W 8 in
Hamburg, Germany, vintage gelatin silver print, stamped
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New york, NY
Hamburg, Germany, 1962-1953 by legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is a vintage gelatin silver print, stamped verso. Photo...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
France, vintage gelatin silver print, stamped
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New york, NY
France, 1960 by legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is a vintage gelatin silver print, stamped verso. Henri Cartier-Bresson. born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France, is a pioneer in photojournalism. A French humanist photographer considered master of candid photography...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 8 in W 12 in
Paris Horse Races Longchamps, France, French Vintage Photography 1960s
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in New york, NY
Longchamps, France 1968 by celebrated French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the French photographer's iconic works in which two stately patrician men in tops hats reach out to shake hands at the "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe," referred to as the "Arc," one of Europe's most prestigious horseraces. This is a vintage gelatin silver print, stamped on verso (back of photo) with the photographer's copyright stamp. Available exclusively at 99Prints in New York City, an art marketplace for today’s collectors, offering original photography, contemporary art, and curated works on paper. 99Prints ships worldwide. Artist's Bio: Henri Cartier-Bresson. born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France, is a pioneer in photojournalism. A French humanist photographer considered master of candid photography...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Munster, County Kerry, Ireland
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
What makes Henri Cartier-Bresson’s vast body of work so universally impressive is that he was seemingly present at every significant event and in the intimate company of every import...
Silver Gelatin