HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

BIOGRAPHY

• French photographer 1908-2004
• Known as the father of photojournalism
• As well as candid/street photography
• Born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France

CHILDHOOD

• His family lived in a bourgeois area in Paris
• This meant he had to address his parents with "vous" rather than "tu"
• Henri lived during a time when film photography was young, and starting to develop
• No pun intended :)
• His father was a successful textile manufacturer, though C-B had no intention of doing that

THE ARTIST

• Studied painting under André Lhote
• The Lhote Academy in 1927 focused on combining Cubism with classic painting
• C-B read literature, including Dostoevsky, Schopenhauer, Rimbaud, Freud, Marx and others
• Though not taking pictures, his early study was vital to his later work as a photographer
• He said Lhote was his teacher of "photography without a camera"

PHOTOGRAPHY

• Eventually, C-B grew tired of Lhote's strict teaching and view of art
• Photographic realism provided something that couldn't be obtained through painting
• Photography was growing as an art, going against the tradition of well-respected art forms
• Surrealists found beautiful things in the mundane, both the usual and unusual
• The surrealist movement, starting in 1924, helped popularize photography

DRAMA IN HIS LIFE

• After a time in the army, C-B was involved in an affair
• It ended and he was left broken hearted
• He decided to move to Côte d'Ivoire to get away, inspired by Conrad's Heart of Darkness
• He was depressed and pondered suicide
• He wanted father to have Debussy's string quartet played at his funeral, but eventually returned home

PHOTOGRAPHY

• In a way, photography helped C-B find passion in life again
• A photograph by Martin Munkasci got him hooked on the potential of a photograph
• This photograph of three boys led C-B to say
• "I suddenly understood that photography can fix eternity in a moment."

PHOTOJOURALISM

• C-B started to take pictures with a Leica and a 50mm lens
• He traveled and took pictures of life, of people
• He collaborated with other photographers and photojournalists
• His style of work helped shape modern street photography (candid)

UNE MOMENT DECISIVE

• One of his most famous lines taken from 17th century Cardinal de Retz
• Il n'y a rien dans ce monde qui n'ait un moment decisif
• There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment
• C-B mastered capturing that moment in his photography

MORE ON C-B

• He loved taking portraits of others, but rarely had his portrait taken
• He stuck with black and white, didn't like color photography when it came out
• He didn't spend much time with the technical aspects of photography, had someone else develop his film
• Called photography "instant drawing"
• Looked to by many as the first and most classic street photographer

SOME OF MY ATTEMPTS AT STRET PHOTOGRAPHY

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(PORTRAIT OF ME, BY MY MOTHER)