Customer Reviews

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Mexican Notebooks 1934-1964

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There is a consistant light which runs through Cartier-Bresson's work. It is the late afternoon light or the early morning glow, that enters his leica. We see it in the streets, behind the waitress in the Mexican bar as she leans unknowingly towards Cartier-Bresson's lens. It's surrounded by this light that Cartier-Bresson feels most at home, even in Mexico. Mexican notebooks is full of all Cartier-Bresson's hallmarks; real people in real situations. Circumstance and the click of his shutter fixes them in their descisive moment. This is a collection no photojournalist should be without.

this is a very touching and intimate look at everyday life, but Cartier-Brenson's experienced eye has also captured the powerful light that alludes to heat, the mood of poverty, and the history that pervades this country. At different points this volume is disturbing, humorous, spiritual, and abstract. a masterpiece.

This collection of photographs from the author's two visits to Mexico are quite striking. Cartier-Bresson knows his craft well, and yet I feel a slight disappointment in the book, as I had hoped that his range of subject matter would be a little more varied, and perhaps show a few more pictures of the countryside. This collection of photos is nice, but consists mostly of shots of a sociological nature, from the poor classes of Mexican society. I understand that this is Cartier-Bresson's personal photo essay, but perhaps he could have widened his scope of Mexico to have included a wider array of subject matter. I do like the pictures, there just should have been more of a variance of them. If you like Cartier-Bresson, his book of India is simply fantastic.