Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographing America

Walker Evans and Henri Cartier-Bresson belonged to the same generation and shared an insatiable intellectual curiosity. Their works were exhibited together in 1935 at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York, and they shared a period working in America when Cartier-Bresson was preparing his show at the Museum of Modern Art between 1946 and 1947.

This book draws a parallel between their work about America. As John Szarkowski, Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, argued, ‘Evans defined in his work the essence of the documentary aesthetic.’ Cartier-Bresson, on the other hand, was making a fresh start, leaving behind his work in moving imagery and embracing a career as a stills photographer. But they were both approaching their work as a form of social criticism, imbued with references to literature and painting.