Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs New York Thursday, October 4, 2018 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris

  • Literature

    Centre Pompidou, Henri Cartier-Bresson: L’exposition, p. 21
    Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, pl. 66
    Chéroux, Aperture Masters of Photography: Henri Cartier-Bresson, p. 43
    Fuentes, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Mexican Notebooks 1934-1964, p. 77
    Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, p. 100
    Steidl, Henri Cartier-Bresson Scrapbook, pl. 23
    Thames & Hudson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Image and The World, pl. 123
    Thames & Hudson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer, pl. 25

  • 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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113

Mexico City, Mexico

1934
Gelatin silver print, probably printed in the 1960s or early 1970s.
6 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. (16.5 x 24.4 cm)
Signed, titled 'Mexico', dated '1933', annotated 'Natcho Aguirre a tenu la lampe peu de temps et est passé à l'action' in pencil and credit reproduction limitation stamp on the verso.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

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Photographs

New York Auction 4 October 2018