Skip to main content

Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

French, 1908-2004

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.

to
3
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
4
1
2
1
3
1
4
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
6
8,760
2,805
1,313
1,187
2
2
Artist: Henri Cartier-Bresson
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
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Rome, Italy
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
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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
Category

1940s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Siphnos, Greece
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
signed by artist in ink with artist's embossed stamp on recto
Category

1960s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Related Items
Joan and Quintana Roo (Frame 27a.)
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping for unframed prints and a 14 day return policy. Joan Didion by Julian Wasser 20 x 16 inch gelatin silver print Edition 3 of 15 Signed on verso by Julian Wasser *Please inquire for international shipments. Quotes will be provided at cost via FedEx. Description - Julian Wasser started his career in photography in the Washington DC bureau of the Associated Press where he met and accompanied the famous news photographer Weegee – who would become a lasting influence on him. In the mid-60s Wasser moved to Los Angeles as a contract photographer for TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE magazines and becoming internationally known as the go to guy for getting candid but memorably composed photographs. (His iconic images of Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston; Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz; and a young Jodie Foster are already classics.) In 1968 TIME Magazine assigned Wasser to go to the home of the young writer Joan Didion whose book Slouching Towards Bethlehem was becoming a literary sensation. “I’d read her fiction,” said Wasser. “and she didn’t miss a thing. She was such a heavyweight person.” Wasser shot Didion at her rented house on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, where she lived with her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, and their daughter, Quintana Roo. “It was a nice, cozy house,” Wasser remembers. “And she was a very easy person to talk to...
Category

1960s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
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...
Category

1920s Other Art Style Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp playing chess during Duchamp's Pasadena Art Museum
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
Listing is for an unframed print and includes free shipping to the continental US and 14-day return policy. Julian Wasser Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp pl...
Category

1960s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Liz Hurley (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography - 30x40 Print
Located in New York, NY
Elizabeth Hurley photographed by British celebrity and fashion photographer John Stoddart. This risqué iconic black and white photograph expresses her incredible figure, capturing the actress completely naked, against the head of a large Grecian bust...
Category

1990s Young British Artists (YBA) Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Daniel Craig Contact Sheet (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This is a 2002 contact sheet (a positive print of all the negative images from a roll of 35mm film or medium format film) of youthful-looking Daniel Craig...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 20x24 In. - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This fine art print features actress and model Jane March, posed topless on the rooftop of the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris in 1992. This risqué iconic b...
Category

1990s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Tilda Swinton (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This 1986 black and white photograph was shot by British celebrity and fashion photographer, John Stoddart, captures Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton,...
Category

1980s Young British Artists (YBA) Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Swan, With Leda (Limited Edition of 25)
Located in New York, NY
This 2009 photograph by legend photographer, John Stoddart depicts “The Swan with Leda.” It was inspired from the mythology of the Greek story of Leda and the Swan, when the God Zeus...
Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping for an unframed print in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Category

1980s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 30"x40" Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This fine art print features actress and model Jane March, posed topless on the rooftop of the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris in 1992. This risqué iconic b...
Category

1990s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Swan, With Leda (Limited Edition of 25) - 30x40 In Fine Art Print
Located in New York, NY
This 2009 photograph by legend photographer, John Stoddart depicts “The Swan with Leda.” It was inspired from the mythology of the Greek story of Leda and the Swan, when the God Zeus...
Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Kate Moss
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexi and a 14 day return policy. This is available for pick up framed at Los Angeles gallery at no additional charge. For transport the US and internationally, please inquire for more details. Kate Moss by Glen Luchford...
Category

1990s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Kate Moss
Kate Moss
$20,000
H 44 in W 32 in D 2 in
Previously Available Items
Swimmers
By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Located in Greenwich, CT
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 ...
Category

1930s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1930s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1970s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Paper, Silver Gelatin

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 ...
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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...
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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...
Category

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1970s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Paper, Silver Gelatin

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 ...
Category

1940s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1940s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

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...
Category

1950s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

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...
Category

1960s Contemporary Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Henri Cartier-bresson photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Henri Cartier-Bresson photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Henri Cartier-Bresson in silver gelatin print and more. Not every interior allows for large Henri Cartier-Bresson photography, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Yousuf Karsh, Michael Dweck, and Robert Doisneau. Henri Cartier-Bresson photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $8,580 and tops out at $37,164, while the average work can sell for $17,963.
Questions About Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who focused on real-life situations and images, helping establish photojournalism as an art form. He was a pioneer in this realm and was very adept at capturing the moment. He covered many of the world’s biggest events in his lifetime, including the Spanish Civil War to the French uprisings of 1968. On 1stDibs, find a variety of original artwork from top artists.

Recently Viewed

View All