麻豆APP

Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. Author Sonia Fantoli.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, France. His father was a wealthy textile manufacturer. His mother鈥檚 family were cotton merchants and landowners from Normandy.

Henri Cartier-Bresson Was a French humanist photographer. He was well-established as a master of Candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film.

He was one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947. In the 1970s, he took up drawing and studied painting in the 1920s. He pioneered the genre of street photography and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment.

Cartier-Bresson spent more than three decades on assignments for Life and other journals. Amazingly, He travelled without bounds, documenting some of the great upheavals of the 20th century. Such as the Spanish Civil War, the liberation of 麻豆APP in 1944, the fall of the Kuomintang in China to the communists, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the May 1968 events in 麻豆APP and the Berlin Wall.

However, some of his most renowned photographs, such as Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, are unimportant moments of ordinary daily life. Furthermore, Cartier-Bresson did not like to be photographed and treasured his privacy. Photographs of Cartier-Bresson are scant.

Let鈥檚 learn the Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Henri Cartier-Bresson

1. He was Introduced to Oil Painting by his Uncle Louis

Henri Cartier-Bresson. Author Ihei Kimura.

Cartier-Bresson was introduced to oil painting by his Uncle Louis after trying to learn music. However, the painting was cut short after his uncle was killed.

In 1927, he joined a private art school and the Lhote Academy. Moreover, he studied painting with society portraitist Jacques 脡mile Blanche.

He had an interest in modern art. His work was combined with an admiration for the works of Renaissance masters. Such as Jan van Eyck, Paolo Uccello, Masaccio, and Piero della Francesca.

2. He Associated Himself with the Surrealist Movement

The Surrealist Movement was founded in 1924. At Cafe Cyrano, in the Place Blanche was where Henri Cartier-Bresson began socializing with the Surrealist. He managed to meet a number of the movement鈥檚 leading protagonists. He was later influenced by the Movement鈥檚 technique of using the subconscious to influence their work.

In this turbulent social and political environment, Cartier-Bresson developed as an artist. However, he was aware of the ideas but he was unable to convey them. As a result, he destroyed the majority of his early paintings because he was unhappy with his experiments.

3. Henri Cartier-Bresson was Bilingual

 Cartier-Bresson studied art, literature and English at the University of Cambridge from 1928 to 1929. He learned to speak two languages.

4. He was Drafted into the French Army

Cartier-Bresson was conscripted into the French Army in 1930. He was stationed at le Bourget near 麻豆APP.

A time about which he later remarked: 鈥淎nd I had quite a hard time of it, too, because I was toting Joyce under my arm and a Lebel rifle on my shoulder.鈥�

5. He was Put Under House Arrest for Going Hunting without a Permit

Cartier-Bresson was put under house arrest by the head of his air Squadron in 1929. The reason behind his arrest was because of hunting without a license.

Luckily, Henri encountered American expatriate Harry Crosby who convinced the commandant to set him free for a few days. Both Harry and Henri shared a passion for photography, thus Harry gave Henri his first camera.

The duo spent time together taking photographs and printing them at Crosby鈥檚 residence, Le Moulin du Soleil. Cartier-Bresson 鈥渓ooked like a fledgling, shy and frail, and mild as whey.鈥� Embracing the open sexuality offered by Crosby and his wife Caresse. Thus, Cartier-Bresson fell into an intense sexual relationship with her that lasted until 1931.

6. He Fled to a French Colonial African Nation

In 1931, two years after Harry Crosby committed suicide, Henri鈥檚 relationship with Caresse Crosby came to an end. This left him heartbroken. During conscription, he read Conrad鈥檚 Heart of Darkness.

This gave him the idea to flee and find adventure in Cote d鈥橧voire in French colonial Africa. Amazingly, he survived by shooting the game and selling it to local villagers. He acquired techniques for photography from his hunting experiences.

7. He Sent Instructions to His Grandfather for His Funeral

While in Cote d鈥橧voire, Henri contracted blackwater fever. It nearly killed him. While still feverish, he sent instructions to his grandfather for his burial. He requested to be buried in Normandy, at the edge of the Easy Forest. Moreover, he requested Debussy鈥檚 String Quartet to play. However, he survived the fever.

8. His Career in Photography was Inspired by Three Naked Young African Boys’ Photography

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s first Leica (model Leica I). Author Alaina. WIKIMEDIA

After his return to France from Cote d鈥橧voire, he became inspired by a 1930 photograph by Hungarian photojournalist Martin Munkacsi. The Photography was about three naked young African boys. The Photography was titled Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika.

Photography inspired him to quit painting and take up photography seriously. He explained, 鈥淚 suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant.鈥�

9. Cartier- Bresson Acted in Several Films

After his return to France, Cartier-Bresson applied for a job with a renowned French director Jean Renoir. Henri acted in Renoir鈥檚 1936 film Partie de Campagne.

 Moreover, in the 1939 La Regle du jeu, this film played a butler and served as the second assistant. During the Spanish civil war, Cartier-Bresson co-directed an anti-fascist film with Herbert Kline. To promote the Republican medical services.

10. He spent three years as a prisoner of war

Cartier-Bresson joined the French war as a Corporal in the Film and Photo Unit. However in 1940 June, he wa captured by the Germans soon after enlisting, he spent three years in captivity. After two failed attempts at escape, he finally managed to reach a nearby farmhouse.

 He spent the rest of the war working to liberate others and photographing the occupation of France with his beloved Leica camera. The American Office of War Information commissioned Cartier-Bresson to make a documentary about returning French prisoners (La Retour, 1946). It became the focal point of the artist鈥檚 first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947.

Cartier-Bresson鈥檚 photographs were influential in the development of cin茅ma v茅rit茅 film. In particular, he is credited as the inspiration for the National Film Board of Canada鈥檚 early work in this genre with its 1958 Candid Eye series.