An Inner Silence: The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson [Hardcover]

Agnes Sire (Author), Jean-Luc Nancy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

"No one in the twentieth century created more instantly recognizable images than Cartier-Bresson."—Denver Post

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) was perhaps the finest and most influential image maker of the twentieth century, and his portraits are among his best-known work. Over a fifty year period, he photographed some of the most eminent personalities of the era, as well as ordinary people, chosen as subjects because of their striking and unusual features.

In 2003, the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was created to provide a permanent home for his collected works, opened in Paris. This book is published to coincide with the first exhibition at the Fondation that is drawn entirely from those archives, and it features both well-known images and previously unpublished portraits.

Each portrait has been chosen because it perfectly embodies Cartier-Bresson's description of what he was attempting to communicate in his photographs: "I'm seeking above all an inner silence. I am trying to translate the personality and not an expression." The portraits reproduced here—discreet, without artifice, their subjects frozen in time—confirm once more the singular gift of Cartier-Bresson who instinctively knew in which revealing fraction of a second to click the shutter. 100 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published to coincide with the first exhibition at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris, this handsome collection spanning 70 years of image-making gathers 97 portraits by one of the defining photographers of the 20th century. Stripping away artifice from his subject, Cartier-Bresson could capture a personality with a click of his legendary Leica. The book collects portraits of world leaders, artists, celebrities and ordinary citizens, including many famous images—e.g., Sartre and Pouillon standing on Pont Des Arts—and a few iconic ones, like a young Truman Capote on a New Orleans bench engulfed by large leaves. Several pictures, including arresting images of Carson McCullers, Joan Miró, Susan Sontag and Francis Bacon, are previously unpublished. Some of the images confirm the persona of the subject: Carl Jung puffing on his pipe and William Faulkner rolling up his shirt sleeves as dogs nip at his heels. Others shed light on a familiar figure: Martin Luther King lost in thought at his cluttered desk, pen in one hand and his forehead resting in the other. These masterful photos blend the spontaneity of a great snapshot with the highly organized composition of a classical painting. 97 tritone reproductions. (May)
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Review

“The pose reflects nothing so much as motion stilled for a moment—and thereby, once caught on film, for an eternity.” (The Wall Street Journal )

“The master of the ‘decisive moment’ brought the same ability to capture the essence of a situation to his portraiture.” (Black and White )

“Cartier-Bresson set out to unmask mysteries—the mystery of a photograph, of a human being who happened to be his subject that day and, perhaps, even of human connection itself.” (Photo-Eye )

“Highly recommended for all libraries.” (Library Journal ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 1 edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500543178
• ISBN-13: 978-0500543177
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,997 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

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye that truly saw the inner silence . . ., January 15, 2007

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Inner Silence: The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson (Hardcover)

As you browse the millions of photos available on Flickr and other web photo sharing sites, it is apparent that most people wielding a camera do not - cannot - aspire to the special talent of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Renowned for capturing the "decisive moment," Cartier-Bresson was also a highly skilled portraitist. Ninety-seven of his portraints appear here accompanied by one mercifully short essay by Agnes Sire and a pretentious attempt at intepretating HCB by Jean-Luc Nancy. ("What HCB gave his subjects was an air, an aura, an allure; these portraits convery a manner, a disposition, a habitus, an ethos, a mood, a grace and a favour, a gaze and a gift; the gift he has given to them.")

Surprisingly, many of the portraits are formulaic, though this does not detract from their striking nature. A 1966 picture, titled simply "Zurich" embodies Cartier-Bresson's skills as a portraitist and the capturer of the "decisive moment". A wizened, old man in a three-piece suit carrying a briefcase is captured in mid-step . . . the gnome of Zurich. A portrait of Joan Miro captures, if not parodies, the stylized eye motif of his famous paintings. His portrait of Marilyn Monroe, on the other hand, simply captures a beautful woman but with none of the sensuality that Bert Stern and so many others caught. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson saw only a beautiful woman?

While I browsed, I wondered how much of the effect of these portraits depended on knowing the subects (i.e., Truman Capote, Samuel Becket and others who may be increasingly forgotten today), but then I happened upon "Vicksburg," a 1970s shot of an anonymous black woman.

That one shot alone establishes that Cartier-Bresson's unique photographic vision will leave on long after all of his famous subjects are forgotten.

Jerry

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "One More Tribute", July 30, 2007

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Inner Silence: The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson (Hardcover)

Published to coincide with the opening in 2003 of the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was created to house permanently the artist's collected works, AN INNER SILENCE is a joy to behold. There are 95 photographs reproduced here along with a self-portrait sketch of Cartier-Bresson and a quotation by him. Both curator Agnes Sire and philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy have written insightful, informative essays to accompany the photographs. Sire reminds us that the artist disliked being photographed-- ("Perhaps he felt the falseness of the situation")-- and tht he liked to work quickly, in the photographer's own words, to "'bite like a mosquito,'" in order to capture the inner silence of the subject.

But now to the photographs. There are shots here seen around the world of famous people: Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, Jean Genet, Christian Dior (one of my favorites), Francis Bacon, Roland Barthes (fantastic photograph), a very young and pensive Carson McCullers. William Faulkner (another favorite), Henri Matisse, a very youthful and handsome John Huston, Truman Capote, Albert Camus et al.

What is so amazing, however, about these photographs is that the shots of strangers are just as intriguing and engage the viewer as much as the images of the rich and/or famous or both. For example, "Mexico" (p. 49), "Jewish ghetto, Warsaw" (p. 47), "Egypt" (p. 39), "Paris" (p. 81), "Zurich" (p. 105), and "Los Angeles" (p. 107). I for one would like to know more about this young couple.

These photographs, like all great art, invite us to view them again and again. Shot in gorgeous available natural light, they remind us of just how harsh and often pedestrian flash photography can be.

Sire closes her essay by saying that "an exhibition of these encounters would not only be one more tribute to his talent [Cartier-Bresson], as a photographer, but more importantly, would allow many aspects of his being to shine, like so many firefires in a field, because the gaze of these portraits is his gaze, linked by the thread of the other." Beautifully spoken.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In love..., August 14, 2006

By 

Mallory H. (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Inner Silence: The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson (Hardcover)

I am in love with HCB! This book is so beautiful, every picture is amazing. If you are a fan of portraiture this is a must! If you are a fan of HCB and you don't have a book of his yet, this is a beautiful edition to start with. It has all of his famous portraits including some that were not previously published. They are full page and on nice thick paper.