I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung‐up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living. I craved to seize, in the confines of one single photograph, the whole essence of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
(Henri Cartier‐Bresson 1952, p.2)
Who is the practitioner and when he was practicing?
Henri Cartier-Bresson (b:1908 – d:2004)
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse?
- Title: Siphnos, Greece
- Where: Island of Siphnos
- When: 1961
https://www.phillips.com/detail/henri-cartierbresson/NY040517/38
With the photo you are examining when was it produced?
The photography was taken on the Island of Siphnos, Greece in 1961.
How was the photo authored?
The photo was taken using an analogue camera in black and white, most likely taken with a Leica 35mm film camera, as it was Cartier-Bresson’s most commonly used camera (Estrin, 2016).
The composition of this photo is very considered, playing with architecture, geometry, shadows and light. Cartier-Bresson explains in an interview that he set up the composition first and then captured people passing through, only taking two photos. The first, a priest in an orthodox hat and the second image was a girl, whose movement and pose complimented the geometry of the architecture (Scholastic Magazines, Inc and International Centre of Photography, 1973). This photo is a perfect example of his approach to photography which Cartier-Bresson wrote about in his book, The Decisive Moment 1952, which is a combination of composition and capturing a particular moment in time.
So, the decisive moment according to Cartier‐Bresson is a confluence of both space (form resulting in a picture) and time (an event creating a narrative). This is clear from his definition above, and his specific use of the term ‘picture‐story’ in The Decisive Moment for an image that foregrounds both composition (space) and content (time). (Cutler 2013, p.7)
Photojournalist pioneer vs surrealist artist
In Siphnos, Greece 1961, the architectural composition with the girl running through creates a narrative and leaves the viewer with questions, or to imagine a story. In some ways this image is photojournalistic, capturing the exact moment the girl passes through and in other ways, it’s very artistic with a very considered composition and the relationship between subject and the setting. Cartier-Bresson sees his photography in an artistic way,
He explained his approach to photography in these terms, ‘For me the camera is a sketchbook, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression’. (Magnum Photos 2020, para. 3)
The photo as a sketch refers to the immediacy that photography allows, which was important for Siphnos, Greece 1961. Wells notes this relationship between time and space captured in photography, established the art form as a driver for modernism (2015, p.21).
How was the photo published?
Siphnos, Greece was photographed in 1961 and printed on paper, however, there are few details about the method of the original print. Most recently, the photograph was sold by Phillips Auctioneers in 2017, describing it as a Gelatin silver print, printed later (Phillips 2017). Therefore, it is uncertain of the artist’s original methods and format, but we know it would be using an analogue process.
Lister explains the analogue aspects of photography in the way the image is stored on film and developed onto light-sensitive paper using chemicals, ‘In relation to the “physical properties can be stored in another ‘analogous’ physical form” (2009, p.17).
Analogue photography is printed when a photographic negative is exposed to light in a darkroom on photo paper using chemical developers (Lomography, n.d. para.10). Cartier-Bresson was known to have little interest in the technical aspects of photo developing, such as the difference in paper or processes to produce different effects such as soft prints and contrast (Leicaphilia 2015, para. 20)
How was the photo distributed?
It is not documented exactly how this photograph was distributed, however, Cartier-Bresson likely took this photo during a trip to Greece, while working for Holiday or Harper’s Bazaar magazines, whom he worked on assignment travelling through Europe for many years (Phillips 2017, para.1).
Magazines were a common method of distribution for Cartier-Bresson, selling his first photograph to French magazine Vu. Magazines offered an income and exposed his work to the wider public, however, he understood that the publications could edit and distort the work for the requirements of the magazine. He did have some control of this, founding a cooperative Magnum Photos in 1947, with a group of freelance photographers to distribute their work to magazines around the world (Leicaphilia 2015, para.49)
Since its original iteration was likely to be distributed in magazines, Cartier-Bresson’s photography has been distributed in exhibitions and published in his books.
References:
Cartier‐Bresson, H. (1952) ‘The Decisive Moment’. Simon and Schuster, New York.
Cutler R, 2013, ‘Photography and time: decoding the decisive moment’ Academia, p.7, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://www.academia.edu/4826314/Photography_and_time_decoding_the_decisive_moment?email_work_card=view-paper>
Estrin, J 2016, ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson, Whose “Decisive Moment” Shaped Modern Photography’, The New York Times, 3 August, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/obituaries/archives/henri-cartier-bresson-photography>
Leicaphilia 2015, ‘Images on the run’, Leicaphilia, blog post, 20 September, viewed 9 April 2020, <http://leicaphilia.com/tag/henri-cartier-bresson>
Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York.
Lomography n.d. What is Analogue Photography, Lomography, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://microsites.lomography.com/analogue-photography-101/>
Magnum Photos 2020, ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson’ Magnum Photos, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/henri-cartier-bresson/>
Phillips 2017, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Eye of the Century, Phillips, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://www.phillips.com/detail/henri-cartierbresson/NY040517/38>
Scholastic Magazines, Inc and International Centre of Photography 1973, ‘The Decisive Moment’, Vimeo, viewed 9 April 2020, < https://vimeo.com/178360907>
Wells L 2015 ‘Photography: A Critical Introduction’. 5th ed., Routledge, New York. (pp. 9-27 Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now. Kamila K & Zylinska J, editors.