Henri Cartier-Bresson Photojournalism

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Widely considered as one of the leading artistic forces and major artists of the twenty century, Henri Cartier-Bresson with his humane and spontaneous photographs is closely linked to the development of modern photojournalism. His itinerant nature brought him to some of the most momentous sites and events in modern history; he covered many of the biggest events from the Spanish civil war to the French upraising in 1968. Cartier-Bresson considered himself a photojournalist, but he is regarded as one of the true pioneers of street photography who was capable of producing acutely modern compositions. Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in 1908 in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France. His family was wealthy; his father Andre, a severe man dedicated to his successful business, made a fortune as a textile manufacturer. Henri’s mother Martha exposed him to the Parisian arts scene from his early age, including music concerts, literature, poetry, art exhibitions. At the early age of five, painting captured the interest of the young boy mainly thanks to his uncle Louis who was an accomplished painter. The two spent hours in Louis’s studio together and young…show more content…
Like the Surrealist painters, Cartier-Bresson photographs are perplexing and disturbing visual games intended to provoke the subconscious mind to make connections that are deeply personal. The half-naked man who seems to be writhing free of the reminder of his clothing could be contorting himself in either agony or ecstasy, the ambiguity is what makes the image so deeply unsettling. The shoes take on asignificance because of their displacement. Cast off and ordinary, in the context of this image, juxtaposed with the male torso, there is no logic to their inclusion in the composition. The uncanny juxtaposition was a hallmark of Surrealism that Cartier-Bresson found interesting and
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 !1 Biography Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2014) Henri Cartier-Bresson, “father of modern photojournalism”, was born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France. He was the oldest of five children, and his family was wealthy with his father making a fortune as a textile manufacturer. He was interested and always passionate about art since young. As a teenager, Cartier-Bresson was rebelling against his parents' formal

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