A Generous Brazilian Helping Of Cartier-Bresson's Photographs:

June 17, 2002 10:09 AM

A Generous Brazilian Helping Of Cartier-Bresson's Photographs: His work is so vital it's unusually monitor-friendly. This 1999 Brazilian website includes many hard-to-find photographs, interestingly divided by location(Europe, America, India). There's also a nice selection of his classic images on Photology.com's commercial site and an avaricious but compelling set of portraits of writers here, courtesy of a Eastman Kodak-sponsored exhibition. [As far as I can tell, they're all copyright-cleared. Bring your old Leicas out...and despair!].
posted by MiguelCardoso (14 comments total)

If I may be forgiven one little image, here's my favourite photograph of all time - it's been sitting on my desktop for years and I still smile every time I see it.


posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:13 AM on June 17, 2002

Miguel, I love that picture too. Not least because it breaks so many of the rules of photography (the edge of the wall comes straight out of the child's head, the picture is crooked and the main image is dead-centre), and it works so well anyway. It's also a great illustration of Carter-Bresson's self-imposed rule against cropping or otherwise changing the image from negative to print (he always printed full-frame), since most photographers would have cropped it and printed it straighter, but even when it shouldn't work, it does. Good link, thanks!
posted by biscotti at 10:25 AM on June 17, 2002

I'm continually astounded that there were people who lived before now, and that there lives were as full, complex and rich as ours.
posted by UncleFes at 10:32 AM on June 17, 2002

There's some more 'celebrity' photos at the washington post site. Check out in particular MLK, Oppenheimer, Stravinsky, Marilyn Monroe. They all look as if they have been caught in restless, quiet moments.
posted by vacapinta at 10:35 AM on June 17, 2002

Thanks Miguel. Very cool site. I do wish the pics from the Kodan sponsored exhibition were not as small as they are.

Nice pics on the WP site too. I thought I knew camera works pretty well. But I have never noticed these portraits.
posted by justlooking at 10:51 AM on June 17, 2002

Be the Bresson
posted by ColdChef at 11:02 AM on June 17, 2002

I once read somewhere that Cartier-Bresson tracked down the kid in the wine photo above and presented him with two magnums of wine, (the kid was an adult at this point), but I can't seem to remember where I read that.

Anyone?
posted by ColdChef at 11:05 AM on June 17, 2002

Ah! Nevermind:
The "boy with the bottles" in Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954 (above) recently celebrated his 50th birthday and Cartier-Bresson joined in the festivities.

posted by ColdChef at 11:11 AM on June 17, 2002

And, (at the risk of monopolizing the conversation here) My favorite photo.

(BTW, the gallery I linked above is amazing. It's called, simply enough, A Gallery, and (along with NOLA and Marie Laveau's Voodoo shop) it is a MUST visit spot in New Orleans).
posted by ColdChef at 11:18 AM on June 17, 2002

Miguel, fabulous links! Thanks much! vacapinta and ColdChef...also groovy links! Whoo Hoo, I see an afternoon spent lost in other people's visions. Yay! (And yes, A Gallery is an astounding place.)
posted by dejah420 at 1:53 PM on June 17, 2002

Last autumn there was a DaVinci exhibit here in Kyoto, at least that's how it was billed, but it turned out to be just ONE DaVinci in the last room, and lots of other religious-themed works from the 15th and 16th Centuries, which failed to capture my fancy. We file out past the DaVinci, however the exit leads not to the street but instead to an unbilled (!!??) companion exhibit of Cartier-Bresson photos, hundreds of them in several rooms grouped by location like the website Miguel linked. Someone should have been snapping photos of my face as it changed from "I just wasted ¥1,500" to "Oh, it's my lucky day!" That's a decisive moment for you.

Thanks for the "photograph Paris like an aesthete" link, Coldchef.
posted by planetkyoto at 4:03 PM on June 17, 2002

Cartier-Bresson trivia:

-He HATES being photographed himself.

- Was absolutely disgusted after Martin Parr was inducted inside Magnum. Apparently doesnt consider what Martin Parr does photography.

But he does shoot like an angel .....
posted by justlooking at 5:40 PM on June 17, 2002

Apparently doesnt consider what Martin Parr does photography.

Bah. Parr's Small World and Common Sense were great. Artistic spats always seem faintly pathetic...
posted by rory at 3:33 AM on June 18, 2002

This is why I love metafilter. I've heard the name Cartier-Bresson, (not that I would have been able to spell it until now) but was not familiar with his work. All I can say is WOW!. (And obrigado, Miguel.)
posted by groundhog at 7:29 AM on June 18, 2002