HENRI CARTIER-BRESON

“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life. ”

Born in Chanteloup, Seine-et-Marne, Henri Cartier-Bresson de-veloped a strong fascination with painting early on, and particu-larly with Surrealism. In 1932, after spending a year in the Ivory Coast, he discovered the Leica - his camera of choice thereafter - and began a life-long passion for pho-tography. In 1933 he had his first exhibition at the Julien Levy Ga-llery in New York. He later made films with Jean Renoir.

Taken prisoner of war in 1940, he escaped on his third attempt in 1943 and subsequently joined an underground organization to assist prisoners and escapees.

In 1945 he photographed the li-beration of Paris with a group of professional journalists and then filmed the documentary Le Re-tour (The Return).

In 1947, with Robert Capa, Geor-ge Rodger, David ‘Chim’ Sey-mour and William Vandivert, he founded Magnum Photos. After three years spent travelling in the

East, in 1952 he returned to Eu-rope, where he published his first book, Images à la Sauvette (pu-blished in English as The Decisi-ve Moment).

He explained his approach to pho-tography in these terms, ‘”For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the

Biography

For me the camera is a sketch book, an instru-ment of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simulta-neously. In order to “give a meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This atti-

tude requires concentra-tion, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by eco-nomy of means that one arrives at simplicity of ex-pression.

To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mas-tering an image becomes a great physical and inte-

llectual joy.

To take a photograph means to recognize – si-multaneously and within a fraction of a second– both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.

It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis.W

instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simul-taneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simpli-city of expression.”

From 1968 he began to curtail his photographic activities, prefe-rring to concentrate on drawing and painting. In 2003, with his wife and daughter, he created the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris for the preservation of his work. Cartier-Bresson received an extraordinary number of prizes, awards and honorary doctorates. He died at his home in Provence on 3 August 2004, a few weeks short of his 96th birthday.

At reis, sintum. Romne es re medium in publium mo tus moludam quam iam nium omnossulius bonsi pris, num faudace

Awards

1986 Novecento Premio1981 Grand Prix National de la Photographie1975 Deutsche Gesells-chaft für Photographie 1975 Culture Prize1964 Overseas Press Club of America Award 1960 Overseas Press Club of America Award 1959 Prix de la Société Française de Photographie1954 Overseas Press Club of America Award 1953 A.S.M.P. Award 1948 Overseas Press Club of America Award

Collections

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France De Menil Collection, Hous-ton, USAUniversity of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan Victoria & Albert Mu-seum, London, UKMaison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USAThe Art Institute of Chica-

go, USAThe Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USAInternational Center of Photography, New York, USAThe Philadelphia Art Ins-titute, Philadelphia, USAThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USAKahitsukan Kyoto Mu-seum of Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv, Israel Stockholm Modern Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

Selected Books

2006 Scrapbook, Steidl, Germany2006 Portraits par Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thames & Hudson, France; (The portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson) Thames & Hudson, UK2003 De qui s’agit-il ?, Gallimard/Bibliothèque Nationale de France;(The Man, the Image and the World) Thames & Hudson, UK;(Di chi si tratta ?) Con-trasto, Italy2001 Paysages, Delpire éditeur; (Landscape Townscape) Thames & Hudson, UK;

(City and Landscapes) Bulfinch, USA; (Paesag-gi) Contrasto, Italy; (Landschaften und Städ-te) Schirmer & Mosel, Germany(Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer) Bulfinch, USA ;Thames & Hudson, UK;1972 The Face of Asia, John Weatherhill, USA & Japan; Orientations Ltd., Hong Kong; (Visage d’Asie) éditions du Chêne, France1970 Vive la France, Robert Laffont, France; (Cartier-Bresson’s France) Thames & Hudson, UK; Viking Press, USA1955 Les Européens, Verve, France; (The Euro-peans) Simon & Schuster, USA 1952 Images à la Sau-vette, Verve, France; (The Decisive Moment) Simon & Schuster, USA1947 The Photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Museum of Modern Art, USA

Films

1969/70 Impressions of California, 23’, color1969/70 Southern Expo-sures, 22’, color

1944/45 Le Retour (The Return), 32’, b&w1939 La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game), assis-tant to Jean Renoir

1938 L’Espagne vivra, 43’, b&w1937 Victoire de la Vie (with Herbert Kline), 49’, b&w1936 Une Partie de Campagne, second As-sistant to Jean Renoir