The photograph represents the surrealist artist Léonor Fini with a stocking over her face. Although probably born of high-spirited conviviality, the picture remains disturbing: the apparition hovers with the disagreeable insistence of a nightmare one cannot shake.
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Credit Line:Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Object Number:1987.1100.130
Inscription: Inscribed and signed in ink, verso UR: "Henri Cartier Bresson // 31 rue de Lisboune // Paris 8e"; inscribed in ink on print, verso UR corner: "31"; inscribed in pencil on print, verso UL: "033"; inscribed in pencil on print, verso LR: "JL#45"; inscribed in pencil on print, verso LL: "CP [encircled]";
Julien Levy to Pfeifer in 1981; [Marcuse Pfeifer to Waddell, June 1, 1981]; John C. Waddell
One of two known existing prints, both originally in the collection of Julien Levy. The other of these is now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Faces from the Collection," January 1–May 1, 1987.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work," September 1, 1987–November 1, 1987.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Permanent Collection - Johnson Rotation 77," February 22–May 13, 2019.
Galassi, Peter. Henri Cartier-Bresson: the Early Work. New York: Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987. p. 57.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 52.
Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, Chanteloup-en-Brie 1908–2004 Montjustin)
1949
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