Henri Cartier-Bresson: City and Landscapes [Hardcover]

Henri Cartier-Bresson (Author), Erik Orsenna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2001

In more than 100 landscape photographs taken in locations on many continents-particularly Europe, Asia and the U.S.-each image in the book represents one of Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moments." Although some photographs contain people, the focus is on outdoor surroundings, from majestic mountains to flowing rivers, narrow canals and lush topography to cityscapes: the landscapes of Nature and the landscapes of Man as captured by Cartier-Bresson's camera. The accompanying text is an important new and poetic assessment of the artist by Erik Orsenna.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henri Cartier-Bresson studied painting in the 1920s and committed himself to photography in the early 1930s. In 1940 he was captured and imprisoned by the Germans before escaping to join the Paris underground. In 1947 he was one of the founders of the photography agency Magnum. His work is featured in the collections of many of the world's most prominent museums.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch; 1 edition (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821227572
• ISBN-13: 978-0821227572
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 11.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,336,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 - August 3, 2004) is perhaps the greatest photographer of the twentieth century. In a career spanning over sixty years, he has used his camera as an impassive and neutral third eye to capture the vagaries of human behaviour and to produce some of the most memorable and compelling photographs ever published.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "thick black surround", October 23, 2001

By 

Alan G. Ampolsk (North Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henri Cartier-Bresson: City and Landscapes (Hardcover)

... the "thick black surround" ... is something Cartier-Bresson insisted on. It's present in nearly all of his original prints. It's the result of filing back the negative carrier to show a small amount of the film border surrounding the image, and signifies that the image hasn't been cropped. His "decisive moment" theory required that the image not be altered in any way -- that the whole photograph be created in the moment in which it was taken. There are a few instances in which his prints don't have the border, and that always indicates that he cropped, usually for some remedial reason. The famous "Behind the Gare St. Lazare" photo of the man jumping across the puddle is a case in point. The original negative (shown in John Loengard's "Celebrating the Negative") is blurred on the left side because C-B shot through an opening in a wooden fence, and some of it intruded. It's an exeception.

The border is easy to miss in framed C-B photographs because it's very thin (he wanted it to be unobtrusive, in contrast to the more modern fashion for a rough-edged, thick black border) and often runs right at the edge of the frame or the window mat. Some exhibitors mat over it. But it's almost always there.

As to the new book -- I agree that the print quality isn't up to the ultimate best, but it's not at all bad, and the collection pulls together some of C-B's work that isn't seen often. Pretty nicely done.

17 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars most disappointing, September 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Henri Cartier-Bresson: City and Landscapes (Hardcover)

given the quality of other monographs by this publisher, the beauty of HCB's landscapes etc., and especially the price of this book, one has every right to expect something special. Sadly this book is far from special. Each illustration has a thick black surround which, frankly makes it impossible to concentrate on, and enjoy the image content. The quality of reproduction is average, somewhat lacking the sparkle of other monographs. Still worse are the vast acreages of blank white pages. What is going on here ??, the number of images could have been doubled and more, quite easily. Information on location, and context are frustratingly sparse - I do not know if HCB did keep a log of his locations, but it would be nice to have rather more than, say, "Japan". This rich and fascinating area of HCB's work deserves a proper presentation, rather than just something that seems to have been 'cobbled together', as this has.