Henri Cartier-Besson death

[ewgrow]

Strange to think he outlived so many of the people he influenced. He's one of those people whose lifetime spanned a century of totally unprecedented change, except that he did it with a camera and an expert eye; it's no wonder we consider him important. That his art was to freeze time in such a rapidly moving age certainly adds to its power and relevancy. For this reason, I imagine his photos will still be considered "timeless" when much other twentieth century art is forgotten. Many thanks Mr. Bresson. (for the elves: a typo above in his name)

[ramaswami_lakshman]

Let his soul rest in peace. The thoughts of millions he has inspired will stay with him on this day and forever.

[daniel vinklars lefteye.]

he is truly one of my photo idols...

[panyitu]

Lately I?ve been thinking that maybe its all about what you leave undone, the thousand pictures that you don?t take, the thousand possible angles that you choose to discard, the many discourses that are left untold, the ability to grasp, that picture, that angle, that light, that argument, which is needed at that precise moment, and discard the others. To do this, to achieve a universally acceptable result, is the contribution. That some chance is involved, naturally; that a presumably number of technical flaws are present, nothing to regret. Once this decisions are made, chance has a due to a large amount of possible variables, but little to say on big issues. As always excuse my English.

[tony_dummett]

Christian, your English expresses your idea perfectly: it's all in the choosing, the selection.

 

I'm a bit choked up. I started off fairly prosaically, being factual about his life, his lost opportunities. Now after listening to reports on his passing on Australian radio, watching Australian television, reading the New York Times, CNN's website, this thread and many others I'm starting to realise what a loss his death has been. They have all carried the news, prominently.

 

Politics, disasters and celebrity lives have been put to one side. Iraq, Bush, Kerry and car bombs are secondary, at least on this day, to the death of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 

I find myself gratified to say safely, that the World mourns his death tonight.

 

If only he had known. If only he had cared.

[thanospapadopoulos]

Lets go out and photograph with our 50mm lens today for him :)

 

Make him an inspiration not a funeral friends...

[george peterson]

A gifted man with a wonderful and unpolluted true French character. A person who

focussed his energies according to his appetites and left the world a better place for doing

so. People are very mistaken in denying him his love of painting. Henri was always first a

follower of his own heart and soul - there was no second. <p> Marvelous images - so

perfect in their ability to inspire others to emulate their character and spirit.

[tony_dummett]

Many see the French as "cheese-eating surrender monkies". The French are thinkers. We need thinkers. More than ever.

[samuel_dilworth]

I think constantly reminding everyone of the absurd sniping of the American (and

British) right makes it difficult for all of us to move on to more productive ground. We

need thinkers from all countries, and while the French have a long history of

cultivating art, art is created by individuals rather than states. Besides, I think most

here would be rather dismayed by our dear Henri's politics. Both Capa and Cartier-

Bresson worked for the newspaper "Ce Soir", which among its other sins, defended

the Russo-German Pact of 1939.

 

Didn't make his art any less compelling.

[george peterson]

<i>"Many see the French as "cheese-eating surrender monkies". The French are thinkers.

We need thinkers. More than ever."</i><p> The French are the politically accceptable

'thinkers' of the sixties their long tradition of perfect soft cheeses is of far more interest to

me and second only to the fact that nothing compares with the charms of Paris in the

Spring time.

[fernando_mcsoto]

The Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation website: www.henricartierbresson.org

[taner]

<p><a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/FramerT_MAG.aspx?V=CDocT&E=29YL535E8CWH&DT=ALB">Henri: 1908-2004 As Seen By Others (Magnum website)</a></p>

 

or

 

<p><a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/Home_MAG.aspx?Stat=Menu_Home">for more</a></p><div></div>

[hilary_spencer1]

If anyone has a chance, there is an amazing retrospective of his work at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin right now. 7 rooms filled with his work which makes you realize how much he accomplished during his life. Amazing.

[leslie_koller4]

Just saw this on FOXnews myself...the world has lost a great one....the greatest.

[ray .]

<i>Henri Cartier-Bresson was a miserable, cantankerous old so-and-so in his later years.</i><p>Did you know him well? He didn't appear miserable in the interview I saw.

[stever]

For my little tribute to HBC, please see my recent blog post at

 

http://therosenblog.blogspot.com/2004/08/adieu-henri.html

 

Regards,

SteveR

[mr._g]

I will remember HCB's work. I have already forgotten Tony Dummet's ignorant drivel attacking Bresson's attitude and life choices. What a shame and a sham.

[fotokrelles]

No words. Just sorrow.

[peter_n1664876959]

<i>I have already forgotten Tony Dummet's ignorant drivel attacking Bresson's attitude and life choices. What a shame and a sham.</i><br><br>

 

Pathetic. It is completely unnecessary to personally attack not only a very talented photographer, but a person who writes thoughtfully and with the insight of an excellent street shooter about HCB. Tony Dummet is not only articulate with his camera but also with the written word and he deserves an apology.

[bradley_hague]

I am glad to see such a man get such a tribute. He was an inspiration to me as a journalist, a model for developing my photographic vision, and a personal hero.

 

"Life," he once said, "is once, forever. You cannot go back."

 

He never did go back. His photography was always forward looking. He was a witness to unprecedented changes in our world and thanks to his work so are we. His best photographs, including the famous "Gare St. Lazare", were always rather banal in subject. However they captured the emotion, the individual, the moment in ways that needed no further explanation.

 

As almost heretical as it sounds, from what I have read he cared little about his product after the picture was taken. He only cared that it not be altered or cropped. That the whole of what he saw be relayed to the viewer of his image. So many of us seek exactness and crispness in our images, we seek the detail of the image. Bresson did not seek the detail in the image; he sought the moment. He did not care to capture with exact perfection the images he saw so long as he could convey it's meaning. So many of us would benefit from this perspective.

As photographers we have the ability to capture reality. We can make it exact. We can make it realistic in ways that the Trompe L'oiel painters and sculptors can envy. My charge to you, my fellow photographers, as well as my charge to myself, is to work at capturing not the exactness of our reality, but the meaning behind it. Think of Bresson when you make your photographs: The harmony of geometry, the power of form, and most importantly the connection between you and your subject.

 

Henri Cartier Bresson is dead. His once is now gone, forever.

 

Our calling, our passion, in some cases our profession has gained because of his life, his work, his career. If there are to be tributes, let them be tributes that reveal our devotion to his ideas and acceptance of his wisdom. Let us show that we have learned from this man, who I would say without hesitation is the greatest of us all.

[tony_dummett]

In one sequence of a film about his later life, he was with his daughter and his publisher going over proofs of a forthcoming retrospective. They were having a lot of trouble stopping him writing all over the prints, and in one case ripping a print out of the album. As they gently chided him, he began to smoulder and finally snapped at them verbally to stop patronising him.

 

In another interview he was deliberately obtuse talking about his photographic work and derided it at almost every opportunity, in deference to the purity of painting. While conceding that some of his pictures were quite good, he dismissed most of them, including the ones he liked, as trivial exercises.

 

My point was that having taken up painting again after a long hiatus he couldn't make them work for him, and his fans, in the same way his photographs worked. He was never recognized as "a painter", merely as someone who paints. My impression was that this made him frustrated and miserable, and I thought that was a shame, despite it being entirely his own business to decide what he liked and what he disliked.

 

It is worth noting that in all the reports of his death - even Fox News got on the bandwagon - not one of his paintings, his life's work for the past thirty years, was shown. I believe this would have been a source of some frustration to him.

 

Whoa..!

 

Fox News? Amazing! I'm trying to think of other artists whose death would garner such a universal reaction from general news organizations. And we thought HCB was our own private treasure.

[wordsandpixels]

He was without a doubt one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. His vision was pure and at the core of communicating through this unique medium. He also lived during a pivotal time in both the history of the world as well as the history of photojournalism.

 

Today, we are blessed with many other great photographers who were influenced by Cartier-Bresson. We sometimes take them and the photographs they produce for granted. We should not. As both viewers and photographers we owe this man a debt of gratitude that can not be measured by any normal means.

 

In 1960 I was about 14 years old and unknowingly beginning a lifetime in photography. My intellect and emotions were already being shaped by this elusive photographer. Best of all, I (and my friends) could wander around the city with simple equipment and know that the ultimate goal was far from simple. To tell a story, however large or small, with a minimum of fuss and bother but with a clear command of an invention that has forever changed the world.

 

Thank you, Henri, may you rest in peace.

[david_quilty]

Tony it has always struck me as to how you can produce dam good photos and then wax eloquently about photography and all it touches.

 

To your point:

 

?I wonder whether this will ever happen again, such an amazing confluence of time, talent and place?

 

Well it occurs to me that perhaps photo.net is such a place and the time is now. The talent is there not in concentrated form and maybe not reaching heights you refer to, but diluted by democracy. Photography can only be new once. Yet I wonder what a treasure trove photo.net would be if kept in place over time. What an amazing archive to record this ?time? and from places all around the globe preserved as long as Philip Greenspan et al keep the servers running.

 

HCB had his time and used it well, and we have ours; as for me I hope to use it better than I have to date, especially with respect to photography. Perhaps that is the legacy of people like HCB, inspiring other to try and see the world in new ways.

[grizzlymarmot]

Perhaps it is time to change the quote on the photo.net home page.

 

"For photography you need one finger, one eye and two legs."

Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

"Photography is nothing, it's life that interests me."

Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

I'm certain there are others

[erin.e]

Another thanks to Tony Dummetts thoughtful obituary to Henri Cartier-Bresson. As for other artists that would garner such universal coverage on their demise, Bob Dylan (Zimmerman) is one.