Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 14, 2020 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Daniel Wolf, New York, 1981
    Sotheby's, New York, 2 October 2013, lot 112

  • Literature

    Centre Pompidou, Henri Cartier-Bresson: L’exposition, pp. 44-45
    Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, pl. 312
    Chéroux, Aperture Masters of Photography: Henri Cartier-Bresson, p. 89
    Clair, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Europeans, p. 30
    Montier, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art, pl. 274, there titled Covered market, Simiane, France
    Thames & Hudson, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer, pl. 141

  • 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. 

    View More Works

245

Simiane-la-Rotonde, France

1970
Gelatin silver print, printed before 1981.
9 1/2 x 14 1/8 in. (24.1 x 35.9 cm)
Signed in ink and copyright credit blindstamp in the margin.

Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for $11,250

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas

 

Photographs

New York Auction 14 October 2020