Henri Cartier-Bresson Exhibit, SF Moma
Nov. 14th, 2010 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreToday, the rangefinder forum and the pen posse converged on SF Moma to see the exhibit for HCB, one of the most influential documentary photographers of the 20th century. He was extensively published in Life magazine (over three decades), for example, as well as other venues around the world.
He was active from the 30s onward, and escaped from Nazi prison camp during WWII. He was at so many turning points in world history that it's astonishing: Gandhi's death, the Spanish civil war, rise of the Chinese cultural revolution, etc. He documented transitions, but he also documented ordinary moments, catching a glimpse of what the world was like at various times.
The single photo that caused the most comment among our group was this one. I think the photo and the text on that page speak for themselves. It's a moment of American history that I never really learned about, but there it is.
There were stark contrasts, like this photo from India on the right of this photo.
Simone de Beauvoir, Paris, 1946
McCann-Erickson Agency, Madison Avenue, New York, 1959 (Mad Men, anyone?)
Truman Capote, New Orleans, 1947
Martine's Legs, 1967
Improvised canteen for workers building the Hotel Metropol, 1954
He was active from the 30s onward, and escaped from Nazi prison camp during WWII. He was at so many turning points in world history that it's astonishing: Gandhi's death, the Spanish civil war, rise of the Chinese cultural revolution, etc. He documented transitions, but he also documented ordinary moments, catching a glimpse of what the world was like at various times.
The single photo that caused the most comment among our group was this one. I think the photo and the text on that page speak for themselves. It's a moment of American history that I never really learned about, but there it is.
There were stark contrasts, like this photo from India on the right of this photo.
Simone de Beauvoir, Paris, 1946
McCann-Erickson Agency, Madison Avenue, New York, 1959 (Mad Men, anyone?)
Truman Capote, New Orleans, 1947
Martine's Legs, 1967
Improvised canteen for workers building the Hotel Metropol, 1954