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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2006-07-10
Review: 'Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography'
What Photographers Should Be Reading
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography
This new biography of one of the most influential photographers ever to hold a Leica is almost as mysterious as the man himself.
While taking us through the early years of Cartier-Bresson (often referred to as HCB) much of the first half of the book is without detail about his life and certainly about his thoughts and emotions. It's sketchy at best. Robert Capa is not really introduced until page 108. The founding of Magnum Photos is not discussed until page 156. Fortunately the author starts to reveal more in the second half, perhaps because the subject revealed more of his later life.
In addition readers should not pick up this book hoping to see HCB's photographs and have comments in the text reveal something about the pictures he made. The pictures in this book are of Cartier-Bresson, not by him. That ultimately hurts the volume, as many readers will want to turn to see the photographs described in the book.
There are positives to be sure. Much is made of HCB's early interest in films and his attempts to break in as an assistant director. He took both still and movie cameras to the Spanish Civil War, but was frustrated at the time it took for documentary movie post-production. Often the issues he hoped to bring to the public's attention had faded from consciousness by the time the films could be released. However the still photographs, Cartier-Bresson noticed, sometimes became enduring images of the conflict.
HCB had also noted a dislike for the actual work of film directing, which requires leading people, ordering them around, being the all-knowing on-set authority. At age 32 he left documentary films behind.
Cartier-Bresson's other interest was drawing and painting. While he may well have preferred to be a painter, he saw the camera was more able to capture the accelerated pace of his time. The author notes, "A photographer is entirely responsible for the shot, but not always for what is in it. A draughtsman or painter is responsible for everything, because he is in charge of what he creates and what it becomes. Drawing forced Cartier-Bresson to master himself, whereas photography provoked him into frenetic activity. Drawing made him control his instincts and channel his energy; taking photos, he could give them free rein." After returning from world War II, in which HCB had escaped from prisoner of war camp three times, he dug up his buried Leica and continued as a photographer.
Fortunately for the reader who wants to know Cartier-Bresson's story, there are more details in the book's latter chapters. He had a deep interest in meeting the most interesting people of his time. His pursuit of portraiture allowed him the opportunity to meet many leading intellectuals and artists. The author describes Cartier-Bresson's technique by saying, "In the case of a creative artist, you should first study and absorb his works, then leave them behind so that instinct is not tainted by knowledge. You must read his books, look at his paintings, listen to his music-not merely skim, see or hear. But then you must put them out of your mind, adopt the subject's own surroundings, take in the atmosphere, but never intrude-be the invisible man. In this way, you will not direct him or make him pose. Ideally, he will not even know that he is being photographed. To achieve this, you must have the concentration of an archer and the swiftness of an arrow." If the reference to archery seems unusual, it is because HCB had read the small volume, "Zen in the Art of Archery." It had a profound affect on him and influenced his working technique.
If Cartier-Bresson seemed to have a knack for being somewhere and making an insightful photograph, he had an equal ability to meet leading artistic lights. When he lived in Mexico, he became acquainted with Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Langston Hughes and Vladimir Nabokov, all in the early days of their significant careers.
In the final chapter the author devotes significant time to take us into the mind and heart of the photographer. By the end of this section the reader finally feels they have gotten some significant insight into the man and the photographer.
Fortunately, other volumes exist to flesh out the story. For a history and insightful look at Magnum Photos, see Russell Miller's excellent, "Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History." And to understand the appreciation other photographer have for Cartier-Bresson, see "Magnum Stories." This is one of those perfect-for-a-desert-island books because it's 500 pages profile 61 photographers and can be read and re-read without exhausting its possibilities. Here Magnum photographers get several pages to speak and show their work. Cartier-Bresson's appears over and over as the influence on many photographers who followed him into this agency.
It is hard to call this biography a must read for every photographer. Cartier-Bresson had his quirks. He definitely was on his own path. However if we are to understand one of the more influential and profound photographers of our time, this short volume will suffice until the next longer biography appears.
Photographers, particularly those in school or seeking to break into the photojournalism, are welcome to send ideas for future columns to Jim McNay at jim.mcnay@brooks.edu.
Questions about getting started in photojournalism that might be answered in future columns are also welcome.
Related Links:
Book: Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography
Book: Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History
Book: Magnum Stories
Jim McNay's Member Page
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