Henri Cartier-Bresson

1908–2004

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

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Biography

Henri Cartier-Bresson (French: [kaʁtje bʁɛsɔ̃]; August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment.

Cartier-Bresson was one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947. In the 1970s he took up drawing—he had studied painting in the 1920s.

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Artworks

Left Right

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Hyères, France

1932, printed later

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Hyde Park in the grey drizzle

1937, later print

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Waiting in Trafalgar Square for the coronation parade of King George VI

1937, later print

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Queen Charlotte’s Ball, London

1959, later print

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Interior with Marilyn Monroe

c.1960–9, printed later

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Coronation of King George VI, 12 May 1937

1937, later print

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Henri Cartier-Bresson Coronation of George VI, 12th May 1937

1937, later print

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Henri Cartier-Bresson The embankment in morning, looking east from the roof of Temple underground station. Workers going to offices

1951

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Features

Tate Etc

On the hoof and shooting from the hip: Another London

David Campany

Between 1930 and 1980 photographers from across the globe came to capture the essence of London. To coincide with an …
Art Term

Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos is a New York based photographic co-operative founded in 1947 by four photographers, including Robert Capa and Henri …
Tate Etc

'For want of a new territory to conquer, the fictional energies of art have penetrated into the factual and material basis of photography'

Max Kozloff

Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography
Tate Etc

We are here: Photographing Britain

David Campany , Nigel Shafran , Homer Sykes , Martin Parr , Anna Pavord , Viktor KolÃ¡r , Kathryn Hughes , Brett Rogers and Tessa Codrington

To coincide with Tate Britain’s photographic survey of Britain’s social history, Tate Etc. asked a selection of writers, curators and …
Essay

Cruel and tender

Carter Ratcliff

What is the place of documentary photography in art? This is the central question raised by Tate's first major exhibition …