HCB page at Magnum Photos.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
BIOGRAPHY
French, b. 1908, d. 2004
Born in Chanteloup, Seine-et-Marne, Cartier-Bresson developed early on a strong fascination with painting, with a particular interest in Surrealism. In 1932, after spending a year in the Ivory Coast, Cartier-Bresson discovered the Leica, his camera of choice ever since, and began a life-long passion for photography.
In 1933, he had his first exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, in New York. His photographs were subsequently shown at the Ateneo club in Madrid, Spain. He pursued his photographic career in Eastern Europe and Mexico, later making films with Jean Renoir, Jacques Becker and André Zvoboda, and a documentary on the hospitals of Republican Spain, Victoire de la Vie (Return to Life).
Taken prisoner of war in 1940, he escaped on his third attempt in 1943 and subsequently set up an underground organization to assist prisoners and escapees. He also worked during this period for Editions Braun, making portraits of artists such as Matisse, Rouault, Braque, Bonnard, and Claudel. In 1945, he photographed the Liberation of Paris with a group of professional journalists before filming the documentary Le Retour (The Return). Then, he spent a year in the United States putting together a "posthumous" exhibition that was initiated by curators at New York's Museum of Modern Art who believed he was dead.
In 1947, he founded Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, George Rodger, David “Chim” Seymour and William Vandivert, then spent three years traveling in the East. He was in India for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, in Indonesia during its independence and, in 1949, in China during the last six months of the Kuomintang and the first six months of the People's Republic of China. In 1952, he returned to Europe where he published his first book, Images à la Sauvette (The Decisive Moment) and, in 1954, was the first foreign photographer admitted into the USSR.
Cartier-Bresson subsequently traveled to China, Cuba, Mexico, Canada, the United States, India, and Japan among other countries. In 1968, he began to curtail his photographic activities, preferring to concentrate on drawing and painting.
He is best known for his concept of the “decisive moment” in photography. As he explained, "for me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”
Cartier-Bresson was the recipient of an extraordinary number of prizes, awards and honorary doctorates. He died in Cereste, in the southeast of France, August 3rd 2004, a few weeks short of his 96th birthday.
Awards
1986 Novecento Premio
1981 Grand Prix National de la Photographie
1975 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie
1975 Culture Prize
1964 Overseas Press Club of America Award
1960 Overseas Press Club of America Award
1959 Prix de la Société Française de Photographie
1954 Overseas Press Club of America Award
1953 A.S.M.P. Award
1948 Overseas Press Club of America Award
Exhibitions
2006 Scrapbook - Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
2003/05 De qui s’agit-il ? - Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France;
Fundacion Caixa, Barcelona, Spain; Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany;
Scottish National Gallery Edinburgh, UK
1998/00 Henri Cartier-Bresson Portraits: Tête à Tête - National Portrait Gallery, London,
UK; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK;
National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., USA
1997/99 Des Européens - Maison européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France;
Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Le Botanique, Bruxelles, Belgium;
Museo della Fotografia Storica; Torino, Italy; Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany;
Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen, Danmark, Art Museum Helsinki City, Helsinki,
Finland
1996 Carnets mexicains de Henri Cartier-Bresson - Centre National de la Photographie,
Paris, France
1994 Hommage to Henri Cartier-Bresson - ICP, New York, USA
1991 Henri Cartier-Bresson - Osaka University of Arts, Osaka, Japan
1987 Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work - The Museum of Modern Art, New York,
USA
1985/88 Henri Cartier-Bresson en Inde - CNP, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France;
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; ICP, New York, USA;
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
1984/85 Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson from Mexico, 1934 and 1963 -
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, USA;
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, USA
1984 Paris à vue d'oeil - Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France
1980 Henri Cartier-Bresson : 300 photographies de 1927 à 1980 -
Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1979/80 Henri Cartier-Bresson Photographer, ICP, New York, USA; The Art Institute,
Chicago, USA; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,
Richmond, USA, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico;
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
1978 Cartier-Bresson : Archival Collection - Osaka University of Arts, Osaka
1976 Selected Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson - The National Gallery
of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
1974 A propos de l'URSS 1953-1974 - ICP, New York, USA
1970 Henri Cartier-Bresson : En France - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris
1969 Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson - Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK;
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, UK; City Art Gallery, York, UK;
City Art Gallery, Leeds, UK; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
1968 Cartier-Bresson : recent photographs - The Museum of Modern Art,
New York, USA
1966 Photographies d'Henri Cartier-Bresson - Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Paris, France; Villa Comunale, Milano, Italy; Kunsthalle Köln, Germany
1966 After The Decisive Moment 1966-1967 - Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan
1964 Photographs by Cartier-Bresson - The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C., USA
1957/60 Henri Cartier-Bresson : The Decisive Moment (same exhibition than in 1955/56) -
R.B.A Gallery, London, UK; Nihombashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, Japan;
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, USA, IBM Gallery,
New York, USA,
1955/56 Henri Cartier-Bresson : Photographies 1930-1955 - Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, France; Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zürich, Switzerland;
Stadtisches Museum, Leverkusen, Germany; Kunstverein München, Munich,
Germany; Bremer Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany; Staatliche Landesbildstelle
Museum, Hamburg, Germany; Palazzo della Societa per le belli Arti, Milano,
Italy; Circolo della Provincia, Bologna, Italy
1953 Great Documentary Photographer : Henri Cartier-Bresson - The Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, USA
1952 215 fotografie de Henri Cartier-Bresson - Strozzina di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
1952 Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson - Institute of Contemporary Arts, London,
UK
1947 The Photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson - The Museum of Modern Art, New York,
USA
1935 Fotografias : Cartier-Bresson, Alvarez Bravo - Palacio de Bellas Artes de Mexico,
Mexico City, Mexico
1935 Documentary & Anti-Graphic Photography - Photographs by Cartier-Bresson
Walker Evans & Manuel Alvarez Bravo - Julien Levy Gallery, New York, USA;
1933 Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson and an exhibition of
Anti-Graphic Photography - Julien Levy Gallery, New York, USA;Ateneo Club, Madrid, Spain
Collections
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
De Menil Collection, Houston, USA
University of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
International Center of Photography, New York, USA
The Philadelphia Art Institute, Philadelphia, USA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Kahitsukan Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Stockholm Modern Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
I will be waiting for the new photo additions.
