Author(s): Peter Galassi

Photography

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) is one of the most influential and beloved figures in the history of photography. Released to accompany an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century" is the first major publication to make full use of the extensive holdings of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris including thousands of prints and a vast resource of documents relating to the photographers life and work. The heart of the book surveys Cartier-Bressons career through 300 photographs divided into twelve chapters. While many of his most famous pictures are included, a great number of images will be unfamiliar even to specialists. A wide-ranging essay by Peter Galassi, Chief Curator of Photography at the Museum, offers an entirely new understanding of Cartier-Bressons extraordinary career and its overlapping contexts of journalism and art. The extensive supporting material featuring detailed chronologies of the photographers professional travels and his picture stories as they appeared in magazines will revolutionize the study of Cartier-Bressons work.