HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON AND ROBERT FRANK
2014-03-03Indisputably two of the giants of 20th century photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank have rarely, if ever, been exhibited together. What is particularly surprising about this is that while each stands on their own with distinctive and seminal bodies of work, they have throughout their lives been loosely associated. Within a six year period of time they published what are arguably the two most influential books in the history of photography – Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive Moment” (1952) and Frank’s “The Americans” (1958). They traveled avidly and were never more productive than when they were on the road, and they both shied away from any personal publicity or fame the better to go out in the world unnoticed. In a medium that by the end of the century was largely taken over by photographers looking in, they looked out.
While Cartier-Bresson and Frank’s paths frequently crossed, a certain amount of friction, is known to have existed between the two. Cartier-Bresson is thought to have kept Frank out of becoming a member of Magnum, while Frank was openly dismissive of Cartier-Bresson’s work. Writing about his philosophy of photography in the preface to “The Decisive Moment” Henri Cartier-Bresson opined that a picture (story) is “a joint operation of the brain, the eye, and the heart”. One year later, Robert Frank, quoting Saint-Exupery countered – “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Rather than seeing these two artists as rivals, this show celebrates the pinnacle of an era where photography was still bursting with possibilities, Frank and Cartier-Bresson were at the height of their artistic power, traveling the world not to see it topographically but to understand and interpret the human condition.
Opposite – Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1961, Henri Cartier-Bresson
This exhibition runs until the 22nd of March, 2014
Danziger Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
New York
NY
10011
