Henri Cartier-Bresson spent four decades traveling the world as a photojournalist in search of what he called "the decisive moment"--the instant when visual harmony and human significance coalesce. Published in honor of his 95th birthday, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image & The World is a handsome volume that reproduces more than 600 photographs, film stills, and drawings and includes essays by art, photography, and film experts. Trained as a painter in his native France, Cartier-Bresson began his photography career during a trip to the Ivory Coast in 1931. After shooting his way through Europe, Mexico and the U.S., he became an assistant to filmmaker Jean Renoir and directed documentaries in support of the Spanish Civil War. Imprisoned by the Germans during World War II, he escaped to document the liberation of Paris. More than a quarter-century of magazine photography followed—-including vivid glimpses of modern life in India, China and the Soviet Union—-before he put aside his camera in favor of his sketchbook. Cartier-Bresson's ability to capture peak moments resulted in unforgettable single photographs, like that of a woman in a group of former concentration camp prisoners who suddenly recognizes her Gestapo informer and reaches out to hit her. His constant watchfulness led to images that capture fleeting emotion—-lust, pride, despair, expectation, glee—-on the faces of people going about their daily lives in grim cities, sleepy villages, and vast landscapes. Shaped by compassion and a self-effacing absence of personal judgment, these photographs reflect a worldview no longer fashionable but forever relevant to human understanding. —Cathy Curtis

From Publishers Weekly
Cartier-Bresson's photos of everyday scenes were apparently bothersome to an audience accustomed to the abstract work of Steiglitz and Strand. But his snapshots were a new and powerful way of documenting the world: an astrologer in 1947 Bombay; a 1967 control room at Cape Kennedy, Fla.; a 1954 "sports gala" in Moscow. He "improvised, incorporating the effects of chance and accident as he went along," writes Philippe Arba‹zar of the BibliothŠque Nationale de France in an essay called "The Public Eye: Shows and Exhibitions." Saul Steinberg even made him a fake diploma authorizing Cartier-Bresson to become a photographer, as if his work needed legitimacy. With quotes from MoliŠre, Virgil, Verlaine ("Memory, memory, what do you want of me?") punctuating the chapters, and more than 600 of Cartier-Bresson's photographs and even drawings, films and books, this is indeed a comprehensive and stunning retrospective, carefully printed and showing the huge oeuvre's variations. Complemented by essays by Peter Galassi of MoMA and Serge Toubiana of Cahiers du Cin‚ma, among others, the book coincides with the opening of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, as well as the photographer's 95th birthday. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Publishers Weekly, 28 April 2003
This is indeed a comprehensive and stunning retrospective, carefully printed and showing the huge oeuvre's variations.

Book Description
Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the finest image makers of our time. Born in 1908, he studied painting before embarking on a career in photography in the early 1930s. In 1940 he was captured by the Germans and spent three years in prisoner-of-war camps before escaping to join the Paris underground. With Robert Capa, David Seymour, and others, he founded the photographic agency Magnum in 1947. Since then his work has taken him all over the world—from Europe to India, Burma, Pakistan, China, Japan, Indonesia, Bali, Russia, the Middle East, Cuba, Mexico, the United States, and Canada. This new collection of work by Cartier-Bresson, created on the occasion of his ninety-fifth birthday, provides the ultimate retrospective look at a lifetime's achievement. It includes the first photographs taken by him, some of which have never been published, rarely seen work from all periods of his life, classic photographs that have become icons of the medium, and a generous selection of drawings, paintings, and film stills. The book also features personal souvenirs of Cartier-Bresson's youth, his family, and the founding of Magnum. Cartier-Bresson's extraordinary images are shaped by an eye and a mind legendary for their intelligent empathy and for going to the heart of the matter. This definitive collection of a master photographer's work will be an essential book for anyone interested in photography—indeed, for anyone interested in the people, places, and events of the past century. An exhibition of work by Henri Cartier-Bresson opens in Paris in 2003 and will be seen in the United States in 2004-2005. 630 illustrations in color and duotone.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This new collection of work by Henri Cartier-Bresson is the ultimate retrospective look at a lifetime's achievement. It brims with classic photographs that have become icons of the medium, as well as rarely seen work from all periods of Cartier-Bresson's life, including a significant number of previously unpublished photographs and a generous selection of drawings, paintings and film stills. The book also features personal souvenirs from Cartier-Bresson's youth, his family and the founding of Magnum.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

The book reminds us of how widely the French photographer traveled throughout Europe, Latin America, the United States and Asia, and of how convincingly his pictures persuade us that he was somehow able to locate the essence of every culture he encountered, every individual he met. Those who, like myself, are more familiar with Cartier-Bresson's street photography than with his portraiture will be impressed by his incisive depictions of artists and writers, among them Matisse, Bonnard, Faulkner, McCullers, Beckett and Giacometti. — Francine Prose

Publishers Weekly

Cartier-Bresson's photos of everyday scenes were apparently bothersome to an audience accustomed to the abstract work of Steiglitz and Strand. But his snapshots were a new and powerful way of documenting the world: an astrologer in 1947 Bombay; a 1967 control room at Cape Kennedy, Fla.; a 1954 "sports gala" in Moscow. He "improvised, incorporating the effects of chance and accident as he went along," writes Philippe Arba zar of the Biblioth que Nationale de France in an essay called "The Public Eye: Shows and Exhibitions." Saul Steinberg even made him a fake diploma authorizing Cartier-Bresson to become a photographer, as if his work needed legitimacy. With quotes from Moli re, Virgil, Verlaine ("Memory, memory, what do you want of me?") punctuating the chapters, and more than 600 of Cartier-Bresson's photographs and even drawings, films and books, this is indeed a comprehensive and stunning retrospective, carefully printed and showing the huge oeuvre's variations. Complemented by essays by Peter Galassi of MoMA and Serge Toubiana of Cahiers du Cin ma, among others, the book coincides with the opening of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, as well as the photographer's 95th birthday. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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