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

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  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • Literature

    Cartier-Bresson, The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson, pl. 82
    Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, pl. 319

  • Catalogue Essay

    In August, 1967, just three months following the Six-Day War, Henri Cartier-Bresson traveled to Jerusalem while on assignment for the travel magazine, Holiday. Cartier-Bresson's photographs form this trip were featured in the December 1967 special issue on Israel, in a piece titled "People of a Proud Land."

  • 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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69

Jerusalem, Israel

1967
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
9 3/8 x 14 1/4 in. (23.8 x 36.2 cm)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for $13,750

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Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Eye of the Century

New York Auction 12 December 2017