Henri Cartier-Bresson - Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Eye of the Century New York Tuesday, December 12, 2017 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • Literature

    Centre Pompidou, Henri Cartier-Bresson: L’exposition, p. 54
    Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, pl. 383
    Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, p. 216
    Montier, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art, pl. 225

  • Catalogue Essay

    Taken in 1967, this intimate rendering of Martine Franck reading Marcel Proust conveys Henri Cartier-Bresson's skill in rendering form and the tenderness in which he handled subjects. To be married just tree years later, in 1970, this image beautifully captures a special moment in the early chapters of a union lasting the rest of their lives.

  • 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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12

Martine Franck, Paris

1967
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
11 3/4 x 17 5/8 in. (29.8 x 44.8 cm)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $38,750

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Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Eye of the Century

New York Auction 12 December 2017