Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs London Friday, May 19, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne
    Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, Photography, 2 December 2016, lot 59
    Phillips, London, 16 May 2019, lot 73

  • Literature

    L. Kirstein & B. Newhall, Photographs By Cartier-Bresson, London: Jonathan Cape, 1964, pl. 30
    H. Cartier-Bresson, The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson, London: Thames & Hudson, 1968, pl. 74
    Photofile: Henri Cartier-Bresson, London: Thames & Hudson, 1989, pl. 37
    W. Manchester, In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographs, New York: Norton, 1989, p. 21
    Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer, London: Thames & Hudson, 1992, pl. 67
    J.-P. Montier, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art, Boston: Little, Brown, 1996, pl. 158
    P. Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, pl. 86
    Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook, Photographs 1932-1946, London: Thames & Hudson, 2006, p. 186
    C. Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson, London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, n.p.
    C. Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, London: Thames & Hudson, 2014, pl. 118
    Henri Cartier-Bresson: Decisive Moments, London: Fine Art Society, 2015, pl. 13

  • 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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SPOTLIGHT: A PRIVATE LONDON COLLECTION

97

Trafalgar Square on the Day of the Coronation of King George VI, London

1937
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
35.7 x 23.8 cm (14 x 9 3/8 in.)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
£6,000 - 8,000 

Sold for £12,700

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Rachel Peart
Head of Department, London
RPeart@phillips.com

Yuka Yamaji
Head of Photographs, Europe
YYamaji@phillips.com

General Enquiries
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Photographs

London Auction 19 May 2023