Review by Choice Review
In 1946, Cartier-Bresson, using a commercial scrapbook, created an album of more than 300 of his pictures made since 1932. The purpose was to assist curators at the Museum of Modern Art select work for his 1947 retrospective. He kept this scrapbook for the rest of his life. It is published now to accompany exhibitions in Paris and New York. The book is important for the insight it gives into his early work, prior to his photojournalistic career. One essay, by Agnes Sire, foundation director, details facts about the album and the MOMA exhibition. A second excellent essay by photographic historian Michel Frizot analyzes the body of work that established Cartier-Bresson's reputation. Frizot owes some debt to the work of Peter Galassi, whose book Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work (CH, Mar'88) was the first to expose it in depth and to establish its surrealist connections. The photographs are well reproduced, including variants, and there are facsimiles of some pages still intact. Many photographs will be familiar from books already available. Nonetheless, a work of solid scholarship documenting the emergence of this most important photographer in the history of small camera reportage. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty. P. C. Bunnell emeritus, Princeton University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Coinciding with a recent exhibition jointly curated by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson and the International Center of Photography, this splendid selection of more than 300 images presents the iconic French photographer's famous 1930s-1940s scrapbook. Published in its entirety for the first time, it contains many of the pictures that cemented Cartier-Bresson's reputation as one of the 20th century's defining image makers. During World War II, the Museum of Modern Art arranged what its curators thought would be a posthumous exhibition of his work, following his capture by the Germans in 1940. Four years later, the museum discovered that Cartier-Bresson had escaped and survived in hiding. He gladly collaborated with MoMA and brought 300 prints in a scrapbook to New York. Now handsomely reprinted, the collection spans from 1932 to 1946, and includes vivid portraits of Matisse, Picasso, Bonnard and Giacometti, as well as street photography, assigned photo essays and reportage of France's tumultuous war years. Image after striking image reveals Cartier-Bresson's consistency in capturing poignant moments in perfectly composed frames. The scrapbook is notable both for the history and the personalities it records, and for Cartier-Bresson's miraculous ability to be at the right place at the right time. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
This book was published to coincide with exhibitions at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (FHCB), Paris, and the International Center of Photography, New York. Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) first gained prominence as an artist for his paintings, but it was photography, which he began as an exploration, that became his acknowledged art form. He took components such as composition, details, and visual associations and cut them off from their context, creating a surprise effect of that moment in time. He also used spatial geographic elements in ways that were powerful and unique to photography. This re-creation of the scrapbook he kept of his life and work, an item he considered his most valuable possession, opens with a foreword by Martine Franck (president, FHCB) and an introduction by Agnes Sire (director, FHCB) and includes an essay by historian of photography Michel Frizot. Black-and-white images of assignments, artistic explorations, and photos of the artist's family and friends abound. Cartier-Bresson's vision was on the leading edge; his influence has been significant. As such, this work, which contains numerous images readers may recognize from leading magazines, is recommended for all types of libraries.-Karen MacMurray, Cape Coral P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
