Hyères, France

1932
Not on view
In 1931 Cartier-Bresson began to use a camera to make photographs that reveal the influence of both Cubism and Surrealism-bold, flat planes, collage-like compositions, and spatial ambiguity-as well as an affinity for society's outcasts and the back alleys where they lived and worked. Within a year, he had mastered the miniature 35mm Leica camera and had begun traveling in Italy, Spain, Morocco, and Mexico, developing what would become one of the hallmarks of twentieth-century photographic style. In his 1952 landmark monograph The Decisive Moment, Cartier-Bresson defined his philosophy: "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which gave that event its proper expression."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hyères, France
  • Artist: Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, Chanteloup-en-Brie 1908–2004 Montjustin)
  • Date: 1932
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 20 x 29.5 cm (7 7/8 x 11 5/8 in.)
    Mount: 38.7 x 47.1 cm (15 1/4 x 18 9/16 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005
  • Object Number: 2005.100.460
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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