Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed the United States more extensively than almost any other nation. Turning his lens to the United States’ vast landscape and diverse population, Cartier-Bresson drove cross-country in 1947 and again in 1960. At the same time as the 1947 road-trip, Cartier-Bresson photographed portraits of artists and writers for Harper’s Bazaar, including William Faulkner (lot 109). Additionally, during this trip many of the exceptional, but little-seen photographs of places like Natchez, Mississippi (lot 114), San Antonio, Texas (lot 110), and Taos, New Mexico (lot 115) were taken. Cartier-Bresson was also a frequent visitor to New York, and the lots that follow, taken in neighborhoods from the Lower East Side, to Harlem, and Brooklyn, show an intimate familiarity with the city.
American culture came to the forefront in the mid-century, and interest in how Americans lived and worked brought Cartier-Bresson’s photographs of the United States to the pages of Paris Match, Réalités, Jours de France, Queen, and other international magazines.