Since his is fundamentally a tragic vision, he reacted most feelingly to what in America he saw as related to its decay, its pain.
-Arthur Miller, writing of the photographs that Cartier-Bresson took in America.
CHICAGO—The employment office, 1947.
NEW ORLEANS—1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW YORK CITY—On the Lower East Side, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW YORK CITY—1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
CAPE COD, Mass.—Independence Day, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
CAPE COD, Mass.—“This woman explained to me that the flagpole over her door was broken, but ‘on such a day as this, one keeps one’s flag on one’s heart.’ I felt in her a touch of the strength and robustness of the early American pioneers.”—Henri Cartier-Bresson, Independence Day, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
MASSACHUSETTS—Watching fireworks on July 4, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW YORK—Coney Island, 1946. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
LOS ANGELES—1960. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW MEXICO—At the Lama Foundation community, a father and two children pass in front of the kitchen, a stoutly built octagonal wood and glass structure (geodesic dome) with all the things a kitchen should have, plus a dining room above, 1971. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW YORK CITY—Easter Sunday in Harlem, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the Lincoln Memorial, a Pilgrimage for Freedom prayer session features singer Mahalia Jackson, 1957. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
MICHIGAN—Football at Ann Arbor University, 1960. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A Michigan vs. Northwestern football game, Oct. 15, 1960. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
NEW YORK CITY—1959. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
New York, 1947, Henri Cartier-Bresson © Magnum Photos
great to see more of these up! i’ve always loved the last one and have tried to duplicate it in the past, but different construction or maintenance scaffolding barred every attempt to get a clean composition.
hey tim,
you’ve taken photos at the same spot? as i have been studying more and more the previous masters, i see examples where i’ve copied their compositions, stolen their ideas outright or just ended up with similar images.
i’ll have to post some A-B comparisons in the near future.
no one better to emulate than HCB!
doug