Henri Cartier-Bresson - A Classic Vision: Photographs from A Private European Collection London Wednesday, November 16, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Directly from the artist
    Peter Fetterman, Santa Monica

  • Literature

    R. Delpire, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer, Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1979, pl. 23
    P. Galassi et al., Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work, New York: MoMA, 1987, p. 130
    E. Gombrich, Tête à Tête: Portraits by Henri Cartier-Bresson, London: Thames & Hudson, 1998, pl. 30
    J.-P. Montier, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art, Boston: Little, Brown, 1999, p. 23
    Documentary and Anti-Graphic Photographs: Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Göttingen: Steidl, 2004, p. 183
    P. Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, New York: MoMA, 2010, p. 99
    C. Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Here and Now, London: Thames & Hudson, 2014, pp. 108-9
    Matthieu Humery et al., Henri Cartier-Bresson: Le Grand Jeu, Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2020, pp. 140, 235, 279

  • 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

6

Calle Cuauhtemoctzin, Mexico City

1934
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
24 x 35.5 cm (9 1/2 x 13 7/8 in.)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 ‡♠

Sold for £4,410

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A Classic Vision: Photographs from A Private European Collection

Online Auction 16 - 23 November 2022