Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
The practitioner that was being looked at this week was Henri Cartier- Bresson. He was a French photographer who was considered a master of candid photography. He was one of the first people to develop and master the genre of street photography. He passed away at the age of 94 in 2004.
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
The title of the photo that I have selected is Children in Seville, Spain, photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1933. “Children Playing in Ruins”.
The link to the photo:
https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/henri-cartier-bresson/
With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?
The photo was produced in 1933 in Seville.
How was the photo or video authored?
The photo was captured in black and white using a 35mm leica camera. He was known for capturing images that were in the moment and not staging the particular shot. He believed that all edits should be done when the image was made. He did not believe in augmented images where edits had been made by enhanced light, dark room effects and cropping. For this particular image, Cartier-Bresson painted the shiny parts of his lecia to avoid attention as he wanted the children to remain natural and not act in front of the camera.
How was the photo or video published?
The photo was published as a gelatin silver print in 1933. The photo was published in many author’s books as a link to the horrors of war. The author Andre Breton, used the photo to illustrate the Spanish Civil War in his book Mad Love in 1937. Cartier-Bresson’s work was also published in many art galleries around the world.
The photo is now available on the internet and can be easily found with a quick search. It’s published on may websites that are stating the facts about who he was and the work he achieved.
I found it difficult to find out if any of his work was published in any newspapers at that time.
How was the photo or video distributed?
The photo was distributed in many art galleries around the world. The ones that I could find were:
- Museum of Modern Art, New York. “Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work,” September 1, 1987–November 1, 1987.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The Waking Dream: Photography’s First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection,” May 25, 1993–July 4, 1993.
- Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. “The Waking Dream: Photography’s First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection,” August 7, 1993–October 2, 1993.
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. “The Waking Dream: Photography’s First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection,” June 19, 1994–September 11, 1994.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “As It Happened: Photographs from the Gilman Paper Company Collection,” May 7, 2002–August 25, 2002.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Framing a Century: Master Photographers, 1840–1940,” June 3, 2008–September 1, 2008.
The photograph is also listed on sites like paddle8 and live auctioneers where people are able to purchase the image.
Stulik, D 2013, Silver Gelatin, Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles United States
The Met, 2010, The Museum of Art, blog, viewed 23 April 2019,
<https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/283312>
