Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs London Wednesday, May 20, 2015 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Hackelbury Fine Art, London

  • Literature

    Henri Cartier-Bresson: City and Landscapes, Boston: Bulfinch Press, 2001, pl. 94
    P. Galassi et al., Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, p. 119, pl. 141

  • 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. 

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133

Aquila degli Abruzzi, Italy

1952
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
24.2 x 35.8 cm (9 1/2 x 14 1/8 in.)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for £5,625

Contact Specialist
Lou Proud
Head of Photographs
London
+ 44 207 318 4018

Photographs

London 21 May 2015 4pm