Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye

[doris_chan]

"Is a quiet person less influenced by emotion than one who acts out?"

 

Why would they be? I don't think I've suggested that. I've also not put a higher value on

passion over dispassion in imagery, I've just stated that I find HCB's work dispassionate.

Cool detachment can be a very powerful thing if you're making images, there are few

things worse than schmaltzy overemotion.

 

"In the best of his work, there's a feeling of wonder expressed about the world in

general......Not sure how you can be more emotional than that."

 

I guess we do read his photographs differently. Strong though many of his images are I

find it difficult not to see the detached view of a very rich man - all the world is just one

big photocall for the patrician guy with the Leica.

[michael j hoffman]

"I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, determined to 'trap' life - to preserve life in the act of living..." Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 

I think the passionate/dispassionate debate over-simplifies Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography. I think what is really being argued here is a general, passive passion for the whole image and moment vs a specific, active passion for its main subject. I don't think in Cartier-Bresson's approach that one could be seperated from the other. Splitting Cartier-Bresson's intent into the role of subject and the role of environment is akin to liking the eggs but hating the flour in a freshly baked cake. That's what I think.

 

I am fairly certain that Cartier-Bresson would turn over in his grave if he were to read this thread.

 

Michael J Hoffman

[Uhooru]

Ray, I get the sense that you somehow define dispassionte negatively or that it equates to

disinterest. Not the case. Sure he was interested and photographed people. But the

intent of the photographs do not seem to be an overiding concern by the photographer to

get the viewer to be concerned about the subjects, their state and their plight. He is more

about finding an artistic geometry of elements organizing themselves visually in time and

space as it they reveal themselves. He can wax very passionately about the detachment he

achieves when taking the photo. I believe he described himself as a hunter of images.

Yes a hunter is passionately concerned about finding and obtaining game, but the

relateionship to the hunted is generally not passionate, instead it is cool, it is prey it is

getting the shot. It has more to do with his inner stance to what and why he is taking

pictures. That doesn't mean he wasn't a humanist. Many abstract painters and artists

with cool discerning eyes are powerful, caring and concerned humanists. Its not a

contradiction.

 

I think he opposed Parr, maybe for several complex reasons. HCB was born of wealth, Parr

was educated in Upper Crust English universitys. HCB's formative years were involved in

eglatarian social and political movments. Parr and his photography reflect a disdane for

the middle class and some would say a mean spirited willingness to make people look

bad. Perhaps HCB felt it derived from an elitist point of view which he felt was not proper

for Magnum, which was concieved as a socially concerned organization to document the

great changes coming over the world after world war II. Interestingly, even when HCB

went on assigment to cover places, his photos always have that certain concern that is

more artistic than humanist. At least to me.

[doris_chan]

"I am fairly certain that Cartier-Bresson would turn over in his grave if he were to read this

thread."

 

What gives you this certainty? Were you a close friend of the man? Why, in the unlikely

event of his corpse being in any way sentient, would he care about the witterings of people

on photonet?

[michael j hoffman]

Doris Chan , jan 17, 2006; 03:14 a.m.

 

"I am fairly certain that Cartier-Bresson would turn over in his grave if he were to read this thread."

 

What gives you this certainty? Were you a close friend of the man? Why, in the unlikely event of his corpse being in any way sentient, would he care about the witterings of people on photonet?"

 

 

Lighten up, Doris!

 

It was a joke - a sardonic way to say I think we are all taking this whole discussion way too seriously. Its a thought that came to me as I was writing my own reply. So, before you get too upset, I count myself among the "way too seriouly" crowd, too!

 

Michael J Hoffman

[Uhooru]

Dispassionate....not influenced by strong emotion and therefore able to be rational and

impartial..

 

I think that defines his photography more than...

 

Passion.....strong or barely contained emotion...

[Uhooru]

You are right MIchael. But I an getting in touch with the very passionate dry s**te within.

[doris_chan]

Michael, I'll be as light or as dark as you want.....

 

"I think he opposed Parr, maybe for several complex reasons. HCB was born of wealth, Parr

was educated in Upper Crust English universitys. HCB's formative years were involved in

eglatarian social and political movments. Parr and his photography reflect a disdane for

the middle class and some would say a mean spirited willingness to make people look

bad. Perhaps HCB felt it derived from an elitist point of view which he felt was not proper

for Magnum"

 

It's just as likely that he opposed Parr for very simple reasons. Firstly, that Parr's work can

be seen as mocking. Secondly, and perhaps more likely, that the approach of Parr is a

reproach to the simplistic traditions of "concerned" photography that Magnum is (or at

least was) known for. Are you sure about Parr's "Upper Crust" university days, I thought he

went to a "polytechnic" - as far removed from an Ivy League style education as you can get

in the UK. As for his disdain for the "middle class", that's his own class......

[Uhooru]

Your right Doris, Manchester Poly-Technic Actually, your statement is much more cogent

than mine. Yes, a reproach to the simplistic concerns...etc..yes nicely put. I back, bow,

rapidly retreat out of this one.

[eugene_scherba]

<p><i>HCB's formative years were involved in eglatarian social and

political movments</i></p>

 

<p>I believe that refers to HCB hanging out in brothels with Breton

and company when Henri was in his twenties or something.</p>

[Uhooru]

Peter, his early photographing years. Not his toilet training years.

[Uhooru]

Young idealists always hung out at bars and brothels in Paris. where else would you want to hang out at?

 

Refering to Breton, I quote "From 1927 to 1935 Breton was a member of the French Communist Party. Although he broke with the party in disgust with Stalinism and the Moscow show trials, he remained committed to Marxism"

[doris_chan]

Historically, it would be a mistake to forget his disco years - 77 to 80 - when he was a key

figure at Studio 54. I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the line

"Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci" in the Chic/Sister Sledge classic "He's the Greatest Dancer" was

inspired by his sharp dancefloor look.

[Uhooru]

Peter he served in the French Army and was captured by the Germans in WWII and escaped. But I'm talking between the wars.

[Uhooru]

I don't know about you, but I'm trying to forget the disco years altogether.

[ray .]

I never acknowledged them in the first place.

[ray .]

btw, hcb played a butler in Renoir's 'Rules of the Game.'

[adrian bastin]

It is the Impassioned Eye, not the Impassioned Man, or even the Impassioned Observer; it does work very well as a title. That eye was a product of a long and deep but highly intellectual culture; and that is felt as a gravity in his photographs.

 

I know I have just said next to nothing, here, but someone had to say it.