In San Francisco this week I visited the SF Museum of Modern Art where the first major retrospective of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson (died 2004 at age 95) is on exhibit until late January. From the exhibit:
"An innovative artist, trailblazing photojournalist, and quintessential world traveler, Henri Cartier-Bresson ranks among the most accomplished and original figures in the history of photography. His inventive images of the early 1930s helped define the creative potential of the medium, and his uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with "the decisive moment." This major retrospective offers a fresh look at Cartier-Bresson's entire career, revealing him as one of the great portraitists of the 20th century and one of its keenest observers of the global theater of human affairs."
The exhibit is vast and engrossing and left me wondering how much an original would cost. From Artnet and various other places on web it looks like a signed photograph is typically between ten and twenty thousand US dollars. This reminded me of a friend I had in graduate school in the 80s---Joanne had two firmly held goals in life, she wanted a signed Picasso drawing and a fur coat. You might appreciate this seemed quite exotic to the rest of us scientist-students and I've often wondered since if she achieved these goals.
In February the exhibit will go to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
The exhibit book....gorgeous!
"It is through living that we discover ourselves, at the same time as we discover the world around us."
----Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1952
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