Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3 2004) was a French photographer. He was commonly considered the undisputed master of candid photography using the small-format 35mm rangefinder camera.

The later years

Henri's photography had taken him to many places on the globe ? China, Mexico, Canada, the United States, India, Japan, Soviet Union, and many other countries. Cartier-Bresson became the first Western photographer to photograph 'freely' in the post-war Soviet Union. In 1968 he began to turn away from photography and followed his passion for drawing and painting. Henri left Magnum in 1966 to concentrate on portraiture and landscapes. In 1967 Henri and his first wife Ratna "Elie" were divorced. Henri married photographer Martine Franck, who is thirty years younger than him, in 1970. Martine and Henri adopted a little girl named Mélanie in January 1973.

Related Topics:
China - Mexico - Canada - United States - India - Japan - Soviet Union - 1968 - 1966 - 1967 - Martine Franck - 1970 - 1973

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Henri retired from photography in the early 1970s to return to drawing and painting. After a lifetime of developing his artistic vision through photography, he said, "All I care about these days is painting?photography has never been more than a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing." He held his first exhibition of drawings at the Carlton Gallery in New York in 1975.

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The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation was created by Cartier-Bresson and his wife and daughter in 2002 to preserve and share his legacy.

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