Henri Cartier-Bresson ~ The Modern Century at The High Museum

Written by Natalie Paulson Thursday, 07 April 2011 01:07

Atlanta, GA - Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is one of the most accomplished figures in the history of photography. For more than three decades Cartier-Bresson was the keenest observer of global human affairs and one of the great portraitists of the twentieth century. His groundbreaking work of the early 1930s redefined the role of photography in the modern world, straddling the divide between art and photojournalism. From ancient traditions in foreign lands to urban post-war Europe, Cartier-Bresson demonstrated his uncanny ability to create telling images from fleeting moments in everyday life. A masterful storyteller, he created picture stories by combining a series of photos and captions and building narratives from many small, individual observations. On exhibit through 29 May at the High Museum.

The photo Torcello, near Venice, Italy (1953) embodies Henri Cartier-Bresson's ability to create beautiful and spontaneous compositions. His use of the handheld camera allowed him to react to unexpected events and shoot in unconventional settings such as a gondola. Here he has managed to capture the final moment of a woman crossing a bridge before she and the image have disappeared.

One year earlier, Cartier-Bresson published his landmark book The Decisive Moment, which included 126 of his photographs from around the world. The book illustrated his determination to catch the essential moment of a fleeting instant and defined a photography theory that combined elements of art and photojournalism.

In 1947, after his first exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Cartier-Bresson helped pioneer Magnum Photo Agency, making it possible for photojournalists to reach a broad audience and maintain control over their work. He was a constant traveler, and in one trip to Asia that lasted three years he produced remarkable picture stories on the independence of India and Indonesia as well as the Communist takeover in China. He was also a filmmaker, and from 1969 to 1970 he made films about California and the American South.

The quickness and mobility of handheld cameras spawned one of the most fruitful artistic traditions that took shape in photography between the two world wars. These new cameras didn’t merely fix the motion of the subject; they also freed the photographer from virtually all constraints. With a camera in his hand and a few rolls of film in his pocket, Cartier-Bresson never needed to decide if he was working or if he was just living.

Cartier-Bresson was a master of two leading strategies of photography in the 1920s—celebrating action by freezing it and turning the world into elegant patterns. His most original early pictures transform reality even more decisively. They reinvent the life of the street as Surrealist theater—more surprising, mysterious, and compelling than the world we know.

Visit The High Museum at : www.high.org/

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