Henri Cartier-Bresson

In 1927–28 he studied in Paris with André Lhote, who instilled in him a lifelong interest in painting. In 1929 Cartier-Bresson went to the University of Cambridge, where he studied literature and painting. Cartier-Bresson’s first serious concern with the camera occurred in about 1930, after he saw work of two major 20th-century photographers, Eugène Atget and Man Ray. Making use of a small allowance, he travelled to Africa in 1930 and lived in Ivory Coast for nearly a year, recording his experiences with a miniature camera. In 1932 he purchased his first 35-mm Leica and travelled across Europe. His work was first published with Voilà and Photographies in 1932, after which he diversified into the field of cinema (1935-1939) and also undertook photography during the war years (1940-45). Between the years 1948 and 1950, Cartier-Bresson spent three years in the Far East. Known for his humane and spontaneous photography, he helped establish photojournalism as an art form. His book Images à la Sauvette (1952) or The Decisive Moment best expresses his theory of photography. No single photographer is more closely linked to the development of modern photojournalism than is Cartier-Bresson, whose itinerant nature brought him to some of the most momentous events and sites in modern history—from the liberation of Paris the Nazi occupation to the last days of Mahatma Gandhi’s life.