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The first compilation of writings by a master of photography.
One of the leading lights in photography of the twentieth century,
Henri Cartier-Bresson is also a shrewd observer and critic. His
writings on photography and photographers, which have appeared
sporadically over the past forty-five years, are gathered here for
the first time. Several have never before appeared in English.
"The Mind's Eye" features Cartier-Bresson's famous text on "the
decisive moment" as well as his observations on Moscow, Cuba, and
China during turbulent times, which ring with the same immediacy
and visual intensity that he brings to his photography.
Cartier-Bresson remains as direct and insightful as ever in his
writings. His commentary on photographer friends he has
known-including Robert Capa, Andre Kertesz, Ernst Haas, and Sarah
Moon-reveal the impassioned and compassionate vision for which
Cartier-Bresson is beloved.
Reproduced in exquisite black and white, the images in this book
range from Henri Cartier-Bresson's earliest work in France, Spain,
and Mexico through his postwar travels in Asia, the US, and Russia,
and even include landscapes from the 1970s, when he retired his
camera to pursue drawing. While his instinct for capturing what he
called the decisive moments was unparalleled, as a photojournalist
Cartier-Bresson was uniquely concerned with the human impact of
historic events. In his photographs of the liberation of France
from the Nazis, the death of Gandhi, and the creation of the
People's Republic of China in 1949, Cartier-Bresson focused on the
reactions of the crowds rather than the subjects of the events. And
while his portraits of Sartre, Giacometti, Faulkner, Capote, and
other artists are iconic, he gave equal attention to those
forgotten by history: a dead resistance fighter lying on the bank
of the Rhine, children playing alongside the Berlin Wall, and a
eunuch in Peking's Imperial Court. Divided into six thematic
sections, the book presents the photographs in spare double-page
spreads. In a handwritten note included at the end of the book,
Cartier-Bresson writes, "In order to give meaning to the world, one
must feel involved in what one singles out through the viewfinder."
His work shows how he has been able to capture the decisive moment
with such extreme humility and profound humanity.
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