I don't know much about photography, but I do know that the recent
death of Henri Cartier-Bresson is a loss for all who admire and study art and photography.
Being a sucker for black and white pictures of Paris, I'm drawn to his photos for purely uninformed, basic, aesthetic reasons. Though I am also frequently struck and impressed by the seemingly spontaneous nature of his photos - see "Behind the Gare St. Lazare" below.
I was fortunate enough to see a 2000 exhibit of another photographic legend -
Brassaï - at
Le Centre Pompidou, a building which is a work of art in its own right. His images, including "Brouillard, Avenue L'Observatoire" [below], simply define Paris at night.
I'm not sure who would have come out on top if Cartier-Bresson had had a tête-à-tête with Brassaï, but one thing is certain - their combined portfolios present an amazing photographic history of Paris during a certain era.
2 comments:
I think Cartier-Bresson beats Brassai hands-down, but Helen Levitt still remains the greatest photographer of all time...
Hands down, eh? His obits and biographical sketches certainly reveal a more interesting character and diversely talented artist than I was aware...
Also, this was interesting:
"Cartier-Bresson's work taught [Levitt] three lessons: a blunt photographic record of ordinary facts could reveal the mystery and fantasy within daily life; that the poetry in such pictures turned its back on conventional value systems and notions of beauty; and that this art, which trafficked in the momentary, was not haphazard."
-From the Profotos.com website.
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