He lies in what he presumes to be his deathbed in a makeshift hospital on the Ivory Coast. With a postcard and pen in hand, he details living out his last days in Africa after catching blackwater disease, a near fatal type of malaria. In the postcard, he includes the manner and whereabouts of his future burial and reveals why he relocated to western Africa. He traveled there to forget about his recent dissolution with his ex-lover and to revitalize his life through hunting animals.
He would recover from the disease; yet, he could never truly define himself as a hunter. Instead, after returning to Europe, he uses a different instrument to shoot and capture a different aspect of life, which would ultimately end up immortalizing his name in the history modern photography and humanitarianism.
Henri Cartier-Bresson’s parents gave birth to him on August 22nd, 1908 in Chanteloup-en-Brie. His wealthy and well-educated parents provided their son with anything he wanted, in hopes that he would one day carry on the family business. This never materialized because of Cartier-Bresson’s intention “to be different.” Instead, he preferred to draw and paint, a trait he learned a great deal about through his uncle, who he called his “second father.”
At 19, Cartier-Bresson attended Lhote Academy, famous French painter and sculptor André Lhote’s prestigious art school. He credits the school for teaching him “photography without a camera.” Upon graduating, Cartier-Bresson became fond of surrealism, a new movement that encouraged artists to draw inspiration from the unconscious mind. He began experimenting with surrealism in his art, but his frustration with his inability to express himself correctly forced him to destroy all of his works.
A couple years later, he fell for Caresse Crosby, Henry Crosby’s wife, and cultivated an affair with her that lasted until her husband’s death, which obliged her to break up with Cartier-Bresson out of guilt. Heartbroken, Cartier-Bresson left for the Ivory Coast, where he contracted the malaria and had the near death experience.
Upon recovering from the disease, Cartier-Bresson traveled back to Europe to study the English language at Cambridge. Later on, in the late 30s, he met film director Jean Lenoir, with whom he produced Communist propaganda films. This experience helped him understand the power of storytelling through picture-based mediums.
He later bought a Leica camera, a camera that he popularized by developing an odd and intense relationship with. Regardless of the future innovations made within the photography industry, Cartier-Bresson never shot with another camera. In 1937, he used his camera to document King George VI’s coronation and published the photos in Regards magazine.
During the Second World War, he joined the Film and Photo unit for the French army to record the French’s perspective war, where the Germans captured him while he photographed Battle of France and placed him in a labor camp. After two failed attempts, he finally escaped by hiding on a farm in Touraine. During his getaway, he realized the need to create awareness and disseminate credible information to educate people about the truth.
For this reason, in 1947, he joined Robert Cappa and others to establish Magnum Photos, the first photographic co-operative owned by its photographers. For his first few assignments, he traveled to southeastern Asia to cover international socio-political events that ended up defining his legacy as a photojournalist.
He first journeyed to New Delhi, India to chronicle Gandhi’s struggle for India’s independence from under Brittan’s dictatorship. He took pictures of the Indian culture to portray how little influence the British had over it. He also snapped pictures of Gandhi’s iconic hunger strike and the atmosphere surrounding the protests. Moments later, a man named Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi while he walked to a prayer meeting, making the portraits the last high quality photos taken of him. Cartier-Bresson also recorded the aftermath of Gandhi’s death and his funeral.
From there, he migrated to China and covered the People’s Republic’s establishment in China. Cartier-Bresson captured the country’s feeling of stability and optimism it felt thanks to the bloody civil war that just ended. The Chinese Nationalist Party, the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China fought over the right to govern the country. The opposing governments continued to fight for control over certain territories.
He then went to shoot Indonesia’s proclamation of their Independence from under the Dutch’s rule. He portrayed the country’s religious rituals, traditional dances, clothing and mannerisms to depict their increasingly independent culture and their right to have their own country.
After his return to Europe, Cartier-Bresson published a portfolio of his works in book called The Decisive Movement. It would garner him worldwide fame and recognition for reinvigorating the photojournalism industry. It also allowed him to become the first Western photojournalist invited in the Soviet Union following Stalin’s death to cover the end of fascism in the country.
In 1966, Cartier-Bresson retired from photojournalism and pursued his childhood dreams of becoming an artist. He began drawing and painting portraits and landscapes. He also took the occasional picture for art purposes only.
He lived a very private life throughout and after his career. He shunned fame and craved only the beauty of art and honesty. He rarely allowed himself to be photographed, making him almost unrecognizable to mainstream populations. He loved having the ability to produce portraits in a busy town square without being recognized.
He passed away on August 3rd, 2004 and although he eluded celebrity status as a person, his legendary photography remains very much alive in the photojournalism world.
Nazeer Khan 