A tribute to Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

‘After the exhibition dedicated to Eugene Smith, this year’s Meeting presents the work of another great press photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, a name which inevitably crops up in any discussion regarding pho-tography. Cartier-Bresson, whose undeniable skill in this art has inspired whole generations of photographers, was one of the founding partners of the legendary Magnum Agency, and has always been an exception in the world of news photography. Whilst such photographers as Capa and Smith were expert pictorial reporters of the drama of war; and were continually on the lookout for Time Magazine front-cover pictures, Cartier-Bresson dedicated his entire attention to portraits of ordinary persons, recording the hopes, fears, dreams and delusions writ-ten on their faces in his innumerable journeys round the globe. Towards the end of the 1970’s Cartier-Bresson put aside the Leica which had been his faithful travelling companion for more than half a century, and turned his at-tention first to drawing and, more recently, to sculpture. The exhibition which opens on 11th August, presen-ted by the Meeting will be the first occasion for the Italian public to become acquainted with Cartier-Bresson’s new activity, since alongside more than forty of his most outstanding photographs, with accompanying comments by internationally famous critics, the exhibition at Rimini’s Sala delle Colonne will also fea-ture over a hundred works in such various mediums as pencil and tempera. Henri Cartier-Bresson, by now more than eighty years old, will be at Rimini for the inauguration of the exhi-bition, which was first presented in Paris at the National Photography Centre in December 1988, when the foun-dation of the Henri Cartier-Bresson International Award was announced. This prize is intended principally to be a recognition of creative talent, and its objective is to allow the winning photographer to complete a particu-lar project which would be impossible to accomplish without this financial support. The HCB Award is open to photographers who have already carried out work of a high standard, especially in black-and-white, with a degree of insight appropriate for news photography. It consists in an indivisible sum of 250,000 French francs, and is awarded every two years. The first winner, nominated in June 1989 by an inter-national jury, was the British photographer Chris Killip. The next prize will be awarded in 1991. The Award, created by the National Photography Centre with the collaboration of American Express, is a tri-bute to Henri Cartier-Bresson and to the interest which he has always shown in the work of his professional col-leagues.’

Date

08 Novembre 1990 - 09 Gennaio 1990

Edition

1990
Category
Exhibitions Meeting Exhibitions