The work of photographer and founder of Magnum Photos Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of those photographers whose work was mainly influenced by painting. A photographer born in 1908, he became interested in fine arts as a child thanks to his uncle Louis. Two years after they met, their uncle died, but the young Cartier-Bresson continued to explore the vast world of painting and graphics, and for some time studied with the French artist and teacher Andre Lot. In 1930, the future photographer went to Africa, where he spent two years. He saw pictures of Eugène Atget and André Kertész and was impressed by their work. They pushed the young man to do this kind of work himself. He was particularly inspired by Martin Munkacsy's photograph "Liberia" of black boys running towards the water. According to Cartier-Bresson, he was hooked by the joy of life, fixed in an instant by eternity.

The aspiring photographer bought a compact Leica camera, which became a faithful assistant in the development of a new artist. Most of all, Cartier-Bresson was attracted by random moments snatched from the surrounding variety of events. He became invisible to others, merged with the landscape, the urban environment, even sealed those parts of the camera that could shine in the sun and involuntarily attract attention. In other cases, on the contrary, he approached the object as close as possible. Cartier-Bresson showed his first works at an exhibition in New York in 1933. The exhibition took place in the gallery of the art dealer Julien Levy, where the work of Man Ray and other photographers who have become a real legend were also presented. A year later, Cartier-Bresson traveled to Mexico, where he participated in a joint exhibition with Manuel Bravo. He traveled a lot, visited China, Canada, USA, Japan, Portugal and other countries. In 1962, as part of a collaboration with Vogue, he went to Sardinia, and traveled all over the island with a camera.

In the late 80s, Cartier-Bresson gradually lost interest in photography and began to paint. In his opinion, he had exhausted his possibilities in this direction and only occasionally took portrait shots. Now the main tools are pencil and pen. In 1975, in New York, he participated in another exhibition, this time showing his paintings to the public.

One of the most important projects in which Cartier-Bresson participated was the international photo agency Magnum Photos. In addition to him, Robert Capa, David Seymour, George Roger, who divided their areas of interest among themselves, stood at the origins of the agency. Cartier-Bresson devoted some time to filming in Asia, covering the civil war in China. He also traveled to India, where he captured the last days of the life of the sage Sri Ramana Maharshi. In this section on Violity you will always find rare and interesting photographs of past decades that will help you immerse yourself in history.