photo essays

I am a big fan of Cartier-Bresson's photography, so this review could be considered a little biased. This is a great book -- lots of Cartier-Bresson's photos (all my favourites, and there are many), well-printed, with just enough text to add some substance to the book without overwhelming the images. There are even a bunch of photos of Cartier-Bresson at the end for those who are curious what he looks like. A few of his sketches/paintings and some information on his films are also included, which may interest some. The only downside is the book weighs a ton, and is an awkward size that doesn't fit in my bookcase. ;-) Highly recommended.

"I have never been interested in photography," asserts the greatest image-maker in the history of the medium, and he put his camera away, thirty years ago, in order to focus on drawing, his first love. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson was more interested in the act of seeing than recording an image on film, but this massive portfolio of images from the 1930s through the early 1970s shows his mastery of composition, his fusion of candor and humanity, and his gift for capturing the decisive moment. It's superbly produced, and every architect will delight in his brilliant sense of shadow and light, and his interweaving of figures and buildings-notably in the opening spread of the church of San Francisco in Ranchos de Taos. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

This title is in my opinion by far the best, most comprehensive single book on the works of Henri Cartier-Bresson ever published, or ever likely to be published. The selection of photographs is huge and they are printed superbly on very heavy fine art paper. The accompanying essays provide a very useful insight into Henri Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography, in particular into his concept of the "decisive moment". The sections on his life provide further substance to the book and raise it well above the level of a coffee table publication. My only (very slight) reservation is that because of the huge number of photographs included, not all could be printed at full-page size and several of my favourites are reproduced a little small. However, the title in its present form is already the heaviest in my collection by a considerable margin and to make it any thicker would have made it too difficult to manage. This title is great value for a fine art book of such quality - if you have any interest in HCB at all, get it!