Henri Cartier-Bresson, the art of capturing the decisive moment

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a major 20th-century photographer. Many people consider him the pioneer of photojournalism as we know it today. His "decisive moment" photography technique left an indelible imprint on the medium.

Cartier-Bresson began his career as a painter but quickly shifted his focus to photography. His first Leica, a tiny camera that allowed him to shoot candid street scenes, was purchased by him in 1931. He has traveled all over the world taking photographs of people and historical events.

His work is distinguished by its meticulous composition, skillful use of light, and ability to catch fleeting moments. He had faith in the authenticity of the moment and never touched up his photographs. Cartier-Bresson was a master of black and white photography, and his pictures are famous for their timeless beauty.

Biographie
Henri Cartier-Bresson is a privileged young man who grew up in a wealthy family. He shows early promise in the arts of drawing and photography. At age 12, he re-enrolls in the French Scouts and begins taking pictures with the Brownie Kodak his parents gave him as a gift. Despite his father's wishes that he join the family business, Henri rejects this idea in favor of pursuing his interest in art and painting.

Surrealist Influence
Cartier-Bresson first studied painting under Jean Cottenet and then under André Lhote. He delves into the "divine proportion" analysis of master artists' canvases and reads Matila Ghyka's book on the golden ratio. He becomes acquainted with surrealists and photographers like Gretchen and Peter Powell while serving in the military. In 1930, he travels to Africa, where he uses a used Krauss camera to take his first photographs. After that, he buys a Leica and devotes his life to photography. He has mastered composition and captured spontaneous, impregnated moments of everyday life thanks to his travels across Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Morocco. Surrealist influences have led him to see photography as a tool for capturing the miraculous in the urban environment. He takes Andre Breton's concept of "beauty convulsive," in which an object is perceived both in motion and at rest, and uses it to investigate voyeurism in his artwork. He also enjoys taking pictures of spectators from the sidelines, which allows him to practice another sort of covert sexism.

The Political Involvement
Cartier-Bresson is a staunch communist and anti-fascist activist. Beginning in 1933, he is a regular at the AEAR (Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires), where he becomes friends with influential communists like Robert Capa, Chim, Henri Tracol, Louis Aragon, Léon Moussinac, and Georges Sadoul. He becomes politically and aesthetically influenced by Soviet film and becomes actively involved in the New York collective of activist filmmakers known as Nykino. Although he hasn't joined the PCF formally, he has strong communist beliefs and attends materialist dialectic courses and communist cell group meetings.

In 1937, he weds Eli, a Japanese dancer who was actively fighting for Indonesian independence. He signs all of his activist works as Henri Cartier to distinguish himself from his wealthy family. He also uses this name in his photographic and filmic works.

He works as an assistant to Jean Renoir, assisting with the production of several politically charged films, including "La vie est à nous," which was commissioned by the communist Party. The films "Partie de campagne" and "La Règle du jeu" have his involvement, among others. Concurrently, he and the Frontier Film crew are shooting "Victory of Life in Spain," which will shed light on the aftereffects of the bombing and worldwide medical aid in the country.

Cartier-Bresson is drafted, taken prisoner, and eventually escapes to join a group of resistance fighters in Lyon during World War II. It records the fighting during the Liberation of Paris and depicts the horrors of the martyred village of Oradour-sur-Glane. His video "Le Retour" describes how the Allies found the camps and brought the prisoners back to France.

After the war, Cartier-Bresson hid his political leanings because the French Communist Party had been dissolved and the Communist press had been banned. This concealment of his political militantism results in incorrect interpretations of his work over a period of years. But he kept voting communist right up until the Soviets crushed the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.