Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs London Wednesday, October 14, 2009 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private collection, London

  • Catalogue Essay


    It is believed that this is the only time image (ii) has been printed as a collector’s print.

  • 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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41

John F. Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, 1968; Saturn V Rocket, John F. Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, 1967

Two gelatin silver prints, printed later.
Each 35.9 x 23.8 cm. (14 1/8 x 9 3/8 in).
Each signed in ink and copyright credit stamp in the margin.

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for £6,250

Photographs

15 Oct 2009
London