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.\n\nCartier-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 traveled 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 traveled 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.\n\nKnown 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 from Nazi occupation to the last day's of Mahatma Gandhi's life.