Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs London Wednesday, October 31, 2018 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    B. Newhall & L. Kirstein, The Photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, New York: MoMA, 1947, p. 36
    H. Cartier-Bresson, The Europeans, New York: Simon & Schuster, pl. 3
    J. Clair, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Europeans, London: Thames & Hudson, 1998, p. 37
    J.P. Montier, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art, Boston: Little Brown, 1999, pl. 111
    Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook, Photographs 1932-1946, London: Thames & Hudson, 2006, pl. 201
    P. Galassi et al., Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, pl. 69
    P. Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, New York: MoMA, 2010, back cover, p. 150
    C. Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Here and Now, London: Thames & Hudson, 2014, pl. 128

  • Artist Biography

    Henri Cartier-Bresson

    French • 1908 - 2004

    Candidly capturing fleeting moments of beauty among the seemingly ordinary happenings of daily life, Henri Cartier-Bresson's work is intuitive and observational. Initially influenced by the Surrealists' "aimless walks of discovery," he began shooting on his Leica while traveling through Europe in 1932, revealing the hidden drama and idiosyncrasy in the everyday and mundane. The hand-held Leica allowed him ease of movement while attracting minimal notice as he wandered in foreign lands, taking images that matched his bohemian spontaneity with his painterly sense of composition.

    Cartier-Bresson did not plan or arrange his photographs. His practice was to release the shutter at the moment his instincts told him the scene before him was in perfect balance. This he later famously titled "the decisive moment" — a concept that would influence photographers throughout the twentieth century. 

    View More Works

87

Sunday on the banks of the Seine

1938
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
29.6 x 44.5 cm (11 5/8 x 17 1/2 in.)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
£6,000 - 8,000 ‡♠

Contact Specialist
Genevieve Janvrin
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe
+33 1 53 71 77 87

Yuka Yamaji
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe
+44 20 7318 4098

Photographs

London Auction 1 November 2018