Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs New York Thursday, April 4, 2019 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Collection of Heiner and Céline Bastian
    Phillips de Pury & Company, New York, 28 April 2005, lot 182

  • Literature

    Cartier-Bresson, The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson, pl. 114
    Cartier-Bresson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: À Propos de Paris, pl. 104
    Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, pl. 289
    Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, p. 54
    Thames & Hudson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Image and The World, pl. 212
    Thames & Hudson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer, pl. 10

  • Artist Biography

    Henri Cartier-Bresson

    French • 1908 - 2004

    Candidly capturing fleeting moments of beauty among the seemingly ordinary happenings of daily life, Henri Cartier-Bresson's work is intuitive and observational. Initially influenced by the Surrealists' "aimless walks of discovery," he began shooting on his Leica while traveling through Europe in 1932, revealing the hidden drama and idiosyncrasy in the everyday and mundane. The hand-held Leica allowed him ease of movement while attracting minimal notice as he wandered in foreign lands, taking images that matched his bohemian spontaneity with his painterly sense of composition.

    Cartier-Bresson did not plan or arrange his photographs. His practice was to release the shutter at the moment his instincts told him the scene before him was in perfect balance. This he later famously titled "the decisive moment" — a concept that would influence photographers throughout the twentieth century. 

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178

Alberto Giacometti, rue d'Alésia, Paris

1961
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
13 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (35.2 x 23.5 cm)
Signed, inscribed 'pour Heiner Bastian très cordialement' in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for $12,500

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Photographs

New York Auction 4 April 2019