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

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

More Artwork

By Henri Cartier-Bresson

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Les points de couture. Première partie. Les points de broderie. Deuxième partie. Les points de crochet. Troisième partie

Henri Cartier-Bresson

ca. 1940 (?)

Jean-Michel Folon

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Jean-Michel Folon

December 1989

Manifestation au Mur des Fédérés, Père Lachaise, Paris, France, 1936-1939, Henri Cartier-Bresson French, Gelatin silver print — Manifestation au Mur des Fédérés, Père Lachaise, Paris, France, 1936-1939
Henri Cartier-Bresson
1936–39

British Couple at the Races, Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Henri Cartier-Bresson French, Gelatin silver print — British Couple at the Races, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Henri Cartier-Bresson
1949

Listening to a Soap Box Orator, Hyde Park, London, Henri Cartier-Bresson French, Gelatin silver print — Listening to a Soap Box Orator, Hyde Park, London
Henri Cartier-Bresson
1945

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