A Tale of Two Photographers

Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank are both giants in the field of photography. The Swiss-born Frank’s 1958 book The Americans presented a stunning and complex view of America that allowed readers to see themselves, and their country, in a new light. Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer, is widely considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was a master of the kind of candid, “images on the run” street photography he practiced and featured in his 1952 book Images à la sauvette or, in English, The Decisive Moment. A recent New York Times article by art critic Holland Carter, on the Cartier-Bresson exhibit opening tomorrow at MoMA, talks about both men:

“Mr. Frank was his own editor; he controlled — and wanted to control — every detail of his product. He spent a full year whittling down thousands of negatives into a fixed sequence of 83 prints. In that sequence each image assumed a singular force; together, they were morally and emotionally explosive.” [Carter says “there are no such explosions” at the Cartier-Bresson exhibit at MoMA.] “Should there be? Are we talking about an impassible line that separates photojournalism (Cartier-Bresson) from art (Mr. Frank)? No, to both questions. I think we’re fundamentally dealing with temperaments and preferences. Mr. Frank’s preference was to compress, cut away, create weight; Cartier-Bresson’s was to keep moving, shooting, taking in more and more and more … Forced to choose between the two modes, I would probably side with concision and density; though there are endless things to be said for the capacious, in-the-now eye and the sheer joie de vivre that were—are—Cartier-Bresson’s pioneering and sustaining strengths. At MoMA, he is so much and so everywhere that he appears to be nowhere. But while slipping from our grasp, he keeps handing us the world.”

The Holland Carter review provides additional excellent detail on the exhibit and on Cartier-Bresson’s work. To read more of his reviews, you can visit his page on the New York Times.

For more about Cartier-Bresson and his ideas about photography, check out this video below: