The Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Early Work [Paperback]

Peter Galassi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Galassi isolates and analyzes the photographer's 1932-34 work, which was surrealistic rather than photojournalistic, a distinction overlooked in earlier publications. In a lengthy essay that makes the book important to art libraries, Galassi examines Cartier-Bresson's work in the cultural and intellectual context of 1930s Europe, and considers such topics as the influence on the medium of technological developments. Galassi says of these photographs that "not all are admirable but none is boring." The reproductions are sometimes rich, sometimes flat, due to an unevenness in the original images. Kathleen Collins, Library of Congress
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810960923
• ISBN-13: 978-0810960923
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,867,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, early work by a master photographer, August 3, 2006

By 

Andrew L. Raimist "Remiss63" (Saint Louis, Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work (Hardcover)

I love this book. I have owned it for a long time, having purchased it more than 15 years ago. I ordered it without knowing terribly much about his work or the book itself.

The examples of his early work presented here are magnificent. The publication quality is very high. The book and the images within it are quite beautiful. It presents his earliest work using a Leica camera in Europe and Mexico. It includes some remarkable images that are not well known, including alternate versions of some of his most famous images. These series help to illuminate his working method and the aura of mystery he is able to distill within a single frame.

Many of these works explore concepts related to surrealism as well as documenting social conditions related to urban and rural poverty, middle-class rituals, unconventional behavior, and other scenes capturing people outside mainstream society.

The book is essentially an exhibition catalog from a show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The introductory essays are excellent and provide a great deal of personal and artistic background on Cartier-Bresson, including some early examples of his forays into painting.

I continue to return to this book repeatedly to revisit the images. I have posted a few photographs of Cartier-Bresson's work in my Flickr photostream, including several from this book. They can be viewed at [...].

The image that I have titled "Cartier-Bresson -- hair" is the photograph on the cover of the book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in black and white photography, spontaneous shooting, the history of photography, or Cartier-Bresson's emergence from experimental photography into photojournalism.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars early work from the master, July 6, 2003

By 

William D. Tompkins (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work (Paperback)

great images and biographical text by the editor of the photographer
if you are an admirer of bresson's work already then the reference material about his life is indispensable