- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson; illustrated edition edition (20 Feb 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0500543178
- ISBN-13: 978-0500543177
- Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 20.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 499,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'The images themselves are of the quality we have learned to expect from this master .... in every case, Cartier-Bresson seems to have captured the soul of the subject' --RPS Journal
'[HCB's] forays into portraiture, the finest of which have the complex presence of a Titian' --The Daily Telegraph
'If photographers are assassins, then Bresson was Lee Harvey Oswald. The man shot everyone' --The Independent on Sunday
'Relentlessly brilliant ... as I turn the pages of this book I experience a sort of quiet awe' --Black & White Photography
'Totally arresting and utterly beautiful'
--Metro
'[HCB's] forays into portraiture, the finest of which have the complex presence of a Titian' --The Daily Telegraph
'If photographers are assassins, then Bresson was Lee Harvey Oswald. The man shot everyone' --The Independent on Sunday
'Relentlessly brilliant ... as I turn the pages of this book I experience a sort of quiet awe' --Black & White Photography
'Totally arresting and utterly beautiful'
--Metro
Review
Highly recommended for all libraries.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having received this book last week I have been simply addicted to the images that Bresson has taken of notable people in history. What greatly attracts me, as with all his work and any great photography, is the ability of certain portraits to captivate you and arrest your attention by revealing something that was hidden from you the times you viewed them before. Naturally this is a testament to the depth of the image that Bresson is able to capture, by not solely focusing on the person alone, but placing them in the greater context of the environment he finds his subjects in. In conjunction with expressions that are not glamourised, but natural, almost mundane, the totality of the image and its formal arrangement produces portraits that are perfections of style and which touch the surreal. A great and beautiful book.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Every lover of photography will have to admit Henri de Cartier-Bresson is one of the purest, most intense photographers in the history of photography.
This book is a perfect testimony to his artistic greatness, both by the pictures that are in it, and by the quality of the publication; it absolutely captures
the essence of the artist, and is therefore a work of art by itself.
This book is a perfect testimony to his artistic greatness, both by the pictures that are in it, and by the quality of the publication; it absolutely captures
the essence of the artist, and is therefore a work of art by itself.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
An eye that truly saw the inner silence . . .
16 Jan 2007
Format:Hardcover
As you browse the millions of photos available on Flickr and other web photo sharing sites, it is apparent that most people wielding a camera do not - cannot - aspire to the special talent of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Renowned for capturing the "decisive moment," Cartier-Bresson was also a highly skilled portraitist. Ninety-seven of his portraints appear here accompanied by one mercifully short essay by Agnes Sire and a pretentious attempt at intepretating HCB by Jean-Luc Nancy. ("What HCB gave his subjects was an air, an aura, an allure; these portraits convery a manner, a disposition, a habitus, an ethos, a mood, a grace and a favour, a gaze and a gift; the gift he has given to them.")
Surprisingly, many of the portraits are formulaic, though this does not detract from their striking nature. A 1966 picture, titled simply "Zurich" embodies Cartier-Bresson's skills as a portraitist and the capturer of the "decisive moment". A wizened, old man in a three-piece suit carrying a briefcase is captured in mid-step . . . the gnome of Zurich. A portrait of Joan Miro captures, if not parodies, the stylized eye motif of his famous paintings. His portrait of Marilyn Monroe, on the other hand, simply captures a beautful woman but with none of the sensuality that Bert Stern and so many others caught. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson saw only a beautiful woman?
While I browsed, I wondered how much of the effect of these portraits depended on knowing the subects (i.e., Truman Capote, Samuel Becket and others who may be increasingly forgotten today), but then I happened upon "Vicksburg," a 1970s shot of an anonymous black woman.
That one shot alone establishes that Cartier-Bresson's unique photographic vision will leave on long after all of his famous subjects are forgotten.
Jerry
Renowned for capturing the "decisive moment," Cartier-Bresson was also a highly skilled portraitist. Ninety-seven of his portraints appear here accompanied by one mercifully short essay by Agnes Sire and a pretentious attempt at intepretating HCB by Jean-Luc Nancy. ("What HCB gave his subjects was an air, an aura, an allure; these portraits convery a manner, a disposition, a habitus, an ethos, a mood, a grace and a favour, a gaze and a gift; the gift he has given to them.")
Surprisingly, many of the portraits are formulaic, though this does not detract from their striking nature. A 1966 picture, titled simply "Zurich" embodies Cartier-Bresson's skills as a portraitist and the capturer of the "decisive moment". A wizened, old man in a three-piece suit carrying a briefcase is captured in mid-step . . . the gnome of Zurich. A portrait of Joan Miro captures, if not parodies, the stylized eye motif of his famous paintings. His portrait of Marilyn Monroe, on the other hand, simply captures a beautful woman but with none of the sensuality that Bert Stern and so many others caught. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson saw only a beautiful woman?
While I browsed, I wondered how much of the effect of these portraits depended on knowing the subects (i.e., Truman Capote, Samuel Becket and others who may be increasingly forgotten today), but then I happened upon "Vicksburg," a 1970s shot of an anonymous black woman.
That one shot alone establishes that Cartier-Bresson's unique photographic vision will leave on long after all of his famous subjects are forgotten.
Jerry
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
"One More Tribute"
30 July 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Published to coincide with the opening in 2003 of the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was created to house permanently the artist's collected works, AN INNER SILENCE is a joy to behold. There are 95 photographs reproduced here along with a self-portrait sketch of Cartier-Bresson and a quotation by him. Both curator Agnes Sire and philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy have written insightful, informative essays to accompany the photographs. Sire reminds us that the artist disliked being photographed-- ("Perhaps he felt the falseness of the situation")-- and tht he liked to work quickly, in the photographer's own words, to "'bite like a mosquito,'" in order to capture the inner silence of the subject.
But now to the photographs. There are shots here seen around the world of famous people: Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, Jean Genet, Christian Dior (one of my favorites), Francis Bacon, Roland Barthes (fantastic photograph), a very young and pensive Carson McCullers. William Faulkner (another favorite), Henri Matisse, a very youthful and handsome John Huston, Truman Capote, Albert Camus et al.
What is so amazing, however, about these photographs is that the shots of strangers are just as intriguing and engage the viewer as much as the images of the rich and/or famous or both. For example, "Mexico" (p. 49), "Jewish ghetto, Warsaw" (p. 47), "Egypt" (p. 39), "Paris" (p. 81), "Zurich" (p. 105), and "Los Angeles" (p. 107). I for one would like to know more about this young couple.
These photographs, like all great art, invite us to view them again and again. Shot in gorgeous available natural light, they remind us of just how harsh and often pedestrian flash photography can be.
Sire closes her essay by saying that "an exhibition of these encounters would not only be one more tribute to his talent [Cartier-Bresson], as a photographer, but more importantly, would allow many aspects of his being to shine, like so many firefires in a field, because the gaze of these portraits is his gaze, linked by the thread of the other." Beautifully spoken.
But now to the photographs. There are shots here seen around the world of famous people: Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, Jean Genet, Christian Dior (one of my favorites), Francis Bacon, Roland Barthes (fantastic photograph), a very young and pensive Carson McCullers. William Faulkner (another favorite), Henri Matisse, a very youthful and handsome John Huston, Truman Capote, Albert Camus et al.
What is so amazing, however, about these photographs is that the shots of strangers are just as intriguing and engage the viewer as much as the images of the rich and/or famous or both. For example, "Mexico" (p. 49), "Jewish ghetto, Warsaw" (p. 47), "Egypt" (p. 39), "Paris" (p. 81), "Zurich" (p. 105), and "Los Angeles" (p. 107). I for one would like to know more about this young couple.
These photographs, like all great art, invite us to view them again and again. Shot in gorgeous available natural light, they remind us of just how harsh and often pedestrian flash photography can be.
Sire closes her essay by saying that "an exhibition of these encounters would not only be one more tribute to his talent [Cartier-Bresson], as a photographer, but more importantly, would allow many aspects of his being to shine, like so many firefires in a field, because the gaze of these portraits is his gaze, linked by the thread of the other." Beautifully spoken.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
In love...
14 Aug 2006
Format:Hardcover
I am in love with HCB! This book is so beautiful, every picture is amazing. If you are a fan of portraiture this is a must! If you are a fan of HCB and you don't have a book of his yet, this is a beautiful edition to start with. It has all of his famous portraits including some that were not previously published. They are full page and on nice thick paper.
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