Which Cartier-Bessson photograph is his "best" image?

[Troll]

<p>So many to choose from...?<br>

Many of the great photographers have a single "gangbusters" image, (Lange's "Migrant Mother," Karsh's "Churchill," Adam's"Moonrise,"Weston's "Pepper #30," and so on), but I can't settle on H C-B.<br>

In fact, I'm actually turned off by his "leaping man behind the St.Lazare." But there's the scruffy kids in the bombed out building in Seville, and the kid carrying the two bottles of wine, and on and on.<br>

What do YOU think?</p>

[donbright]

<p>I've gazed at HC-Bs work for years, and never thought in the terms of the one image in his work. So many great images. It has always been about the body of work to me. There are others too, that are thought of in terms of a body of work. Andre Kertesz comes to mind.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Ultimately, as Don, I think it is a body of work that merits being seen as a total. The individual images have their merits, but as a total it's much more obvious what Cartier Bresson was trying to show us. So it's more a matter of a personal favourite, rather than a highlight of his career. <br />I always loved the composition of <a href="/casual-conversations-forum/00cKv7">the photo discussed here</a>. It just works for me, even if I can understand that people find it a photo that does not carry as much inherent meaning as many of Cartier-Bresson's other photos. <br>

But this photo manages to underline how important placement of subjects in the frame is; put that cyclist in any other spot, change the stairs or the angle looking down - and the image stops working. As an aspiring photographer, a photo that reminds me to keep my eyes wide open and spot those moments where a composition falls into place. And one that taught me the virtue of a bit of patience - wait for that moment to become just right. It's better put in the first post of the thread I linked to: <em>a good example of the "decisive moment"</em>. It is.</p>

 

[Ian Taylor]

<p>Maybe "favourite image"?</p>

[maury_cohen]

<p>Behind the Gare... is my personal favorite. <br>

I once shot a photo (from the hip) of an older man waiting to cross the street, where his eyes show just a hint of suspicion that he's being watched. That's the best "decisive moment" I've ever captured.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>"Picnic on the banks of Marne" is often cited as one of his greats. When people ask me for a favorite or best my mind seems to go blank.</p>

[HarryBaker]

<p>About a month ago I went to see the huge HC-B retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Of course I knew most of the pictures but there were a few I hadn't seen before. I don't know which is his best but my favourites include the little boy with the wine and the cheeky grin because it was taken in the Rue Mouffetard which I know well. I also like some of the pictures he took in China including the funny little eunuch! I guess my overall favourite is the picture of the three elderly priests who look extremely sinister!</p>

[donbright]

<p>I'm always left to wonder when viewing his work, How is it that within all of his works, the subject impact, line, form, the juxtaposition of elements in the scene, tension, message. So many issues of study that most of us can barely hit, and then when we do its fragmented...He gets it all in one shot, and then does this... hundreds of them! Truly amazing. All the time self admittedly not liking camera's! The not liking camera's, I think kept him unfettered in his approach to the seeing of the world.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<blockquote>

<p>little boy with the wine</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes, indeed, that is a classic.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

I like the standing Russian sunbather on a riverbank in Moscow I. Think, with a massive stone wall as background; his

portrait of William Faulkner; the Chinese Court Eunich, his portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, and his portrait of his friend Jean

Paul Sartre. And then there is the photo of Negroes in a park in Washington, D.C. And also the photo of an unknown

prisoner in a jail, defiantly sticking his naked arm, clenched fist raised, and equally naked foot and leg, out from between

the bars of his cell. And finally his photo of Martinez Franc's legs as she lies on a couch.

 

In spite of myself, his portrait of a very young Truman Capote in a garden in New Orleans sticks in my mind; It kind of

oozes a certain knowing kind of insinuated nastiness in Capote's character.

 

These are just the ones I remember without looking at a book or website.

[HarryBaker]

<p>I also like the Sartre picture but my wife didn't approve of his attitude to women so she asked me to take this so she could pull a face!</p><div></div>

[rgerraty]

<p>The banks of the Marne. Not necessarily quintessential HC-B composition, but such a lively movement in that picture. The handlebar moustachioed man behind the tennis court perimeter. The glinting glasses lens of the man at the wooden gate. The parade of figures along a curving road in Scanno. The cyclist in Hyeres. The Indian lady's splayed fingers delicately cradling her child's head, those fingers echoing his ribs, echoing the cart-wheel's spokes...The Gondola's prow marking the arch of the bridge like a speedometer needle, with a girl dashing off the bridge to the right. And many portraits, Giacometti carrying his sculpture, M and Mme Joliot-Curie in their appartment, Francois Mauriac, The man kissing the hand of Cardinal Pacelli.</p>

<p> </p>

[Tony Rowlett]

I like Banks of Marne, mostly because it brings the taste of good food and wine to my mouth. But, as with most folks, there are so many good ones to choose from.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I like that one too Tony.

 

What I like about Cartier-Bresson's work is that it is so unpretentious and yet loaded with beauty and depths of

intelligence, compassion for the simple folk and disposed, and scorn and mockery for the elite and powerful.

[dhbebb]

<p>Agree with others - many images have deeply impressed me - almost every one has some element of interest. The Hyeres, France pic that I chose for the discussion is my favorite by a short head, although this<br>

http://zombiehamster.com/entertainment/interview-entertainment/elements-exploitation-ruggero-deodato/#prettyPhoto/0/<br>

gets my vote for most fascinating - I just don't know what's going on here!</p>

[Troll]

<p>After posting the original question, I've been looking through several HC-Bbooks, and have decided that his "greatest" picture is one that I don't really care for at all: DECCAU, 1945 (iNFORMER).</p>

[anthony_brookes5]

Tony- I agree Banks of the Marne. It has everything as a photo - and taken with a Leica III with 50mm Summar. Who needs anything else ?

[Tony Rowlett]

OT: Bill, I have to admit, I have never understood that image, "the informer." The lady, she seems too happy; as if she were looking upon a surprise birthday cake.

[dhbebb]

<p><em>I have to admit, I have never understood that image</em><br>

This was touched on during the HCB Weekly Discussion. I remarked that HCB is not a hard news guy and does not treat news stories in the way you would expect of a pressman. At the end of the war, French civilians suspected of collaboration with the Nazis were treated harshly - men were simply taken out and shot, women were beaten, had heir heads shaved and were tarred and feathered. HCB's picture at Dessau (note spelling) provides no indication of this whatsoever.</p>

[Troll]

<p>"Informer" was a still taken simultaneously with a movie about displaced persons, directed (but not filmed) by HC-B. It might help to see the flick to understand it. Personally, I think it is self explanatory.<br>

My own favorite print is "Banks of the Marne" which I am pleased to see on my bedroom wall when awakening every day, next to "Children Playing in the Ruins, Seville," and Weston's "Pepper #30." Wish that I'd also bought a print of that "Kid with Winebottles" back when they were still unappreciated and cheap.<br>

Tony, how's Mimi?</p>

[Tony Rowlett]

Bill, she's just as cantankerous as ever! :-0 but doing very well. She's happy that I've taken a break from buying Leica gear. I have been using nothing by my ol'monochrom "Henri" and the 50 Elmar (Collapsible) lately (beautiful combination), and I told her 'THAT'S IT!'

[rgerraty]

Elliott Erwitt in a recent interview with his son maintained that HC-B was still for him the master and his favourite

photograph was the other railway one, the two men at the concrete railing above the receding train tracks.

[tom_bowling1664874721]

<p>Just found this thread. Wasn't it Tolstoy who said being asked to choose his best novel was like being asked to choose among his children? I went to the Pompidou show too last Easter and though I met many old friends (man leaping a puddle at the back of gare st Lazare, rue Mouffetard for example) some of my faves were missing - there are great pictures of women in the bals musettes which didn't make it, for example. I just thought it proved what a great photographer he was to speak to so many of us in so many ways.</p>

[Tony Rowlett]

Not to hijack the thread too much here, but here is a link to that Dessau photo with a snippet of the film which shows the lady (on the right) hitting the informant! Wow! I never knew exactly what was going on in that picture.

 

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/exposing-of-a-gestapo-informer/

[Troll]

<p>Thanks, Tony. Velly Intelesting.<br>

I wonder if the HC-B image was taken before or after the slap? Maybe that was his cue.</p>