Henri Cartier-Bresson: Early Prints

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Early Prints at Edwynn Houk Gallery. "...Originally trained as a painter in the studio of the Cubist artist and sculptor André Lhote, Henri Cartier-Bresson turned to photography out of frustration with his early painting. Inspired by his interaction with young members of the Surrealist movement at the Café Cyrano in Paris, Cartier-Bresson recognized photography’s ability to 'trap life,' and to 'fix eternity in an instant.' In 1932, at the age of twenty-four, Henri Cartier-Bresson acquired a hand-held Leica camera, a tool that would accompany him for the rest of his career. The Leica became an 'extension of his eye' and enabled the artist to combat the 'formal and unnatural behavior' of those who were aware of being photographed. The compact size of the Leica allowed Cartier-Bresson to break down any distinction 'between living and working' and developed into a stealth companion for recording his new photographic experiments."