Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, 1908-2004). Barcelona, 1933. Gelatin silver contact print, printed 1946. Inscribed E16 in...

Description

Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, 1908-2004)
Barcelona, 1933
Gelatin silver contact print, printed 1946. Inscribed E16 in an unknown hand in pencil on the verso. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Martine Franck Cartier-Bresson in ink and numbered 280507/3.
image/ sheet: 3-1/4 x 4-3/4 inches (8.1 x 12.2 cm)

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's London, Photographs, May 29th, 2007, Lot 66.

EXHIBITED:
Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 5th-April 6th, 1947.

LITERATURE:
P. Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987, p. 96;
Henri Cartier-Bresson; The Man, the Image and the World, Thames and Hudson, London, 2003, ill. p. 105, pl. 117;
A. Sire, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook: Photographs 1932-1946, Thames and Hudson, London, 2006, cat. no. 93, p. 135.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was captured and imprisoned by the Nazis in 1940 and, after two unsuccessful attempts to escape, he finally made it to freedom. Assuming that Cartier-Bresson had not survived this harsh imprisonment, The Museum of Modern Art in New York started preparing what they envisioned would be a posthumous retrospective exhibition. However, when Cartier-Bresson learned of the proposed MoMA show, he decided to curate it himself.
in 1946, armed with 300 contact prints in a suitcase, including this exceptional little work, Cartier-Bresson traveled to New York and when he arrived bought a scrapbook into which he glued his prints. The resulting exhibition, a celebration of his survival, opened at MoMA on February 4, 1947.


More information about Henri Cartier-Bresson. See also: Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Bresson, Henri Cartier Artist.

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