Hyères, France

Artist Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, 1908 - 2004)

Date1932; printed later

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 9 5/16 × 13 3/4 inches (23.65 × 34.93 cm)
Sheet: 10 15/16 × 15 11/16 inches (27.78 × 39.85 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.1017

SignedSigned on sheet recto, lower right, in black pen: "Henri Cartier-Bresson"; Signed on sheet verso, lower center, in black pen: "Henri Cartier-Bresson"

InscribedOn sheet verso, lower right, in pencil: "Isolée 66 B"

MarkingsOn sheet verso, center, in pencil: "CC"; On sheet verso, lower right, in pencil: "P5.003.001.69"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of figure riding a bicycle on a cobblestone road. The image is taken from the top of a winding staircase.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Masters of 20th-Century Photography from the Hallmark Collection. Waterloo Municipal Galleries, Waterloo, IA, May 2 - June 13, 1982, no cat.

Cityscapes: 20^th Century Urban Images from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. First Street Forum, St. Louis, MO, April 13 - May 20, 1984, no cat.

Photographic Abstraction. Utah State University, Logan, UT, Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, Fine Art Center/Cheekwood, Nashville, TN, Montgomery Museum of Art, AL, January – September 1987, no cat.

Selections from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Highland Community College, Highland, KS, October 19 - November 11, 1993, no cat.

Rotation 21. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 12, 2016 – July 31, 2016, no cat.

Gallery Label

Henri Cartier-Bresson stood at the top of this winding black staircase, waiting for activity to animate his frame. He instinctively took this photograph at the precise moment a cyclist sped past, ensuring that the blurred form would appear without being blocked by elements of the railing. This way of composing an image characterizes what Cartier-Bresson described as a “decisive moment”: the instant where fleeting forms align to construct the perfect composition.

Published References

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson. (The Viking Press, Inc. New York, NY, 1968), 22(repro.).

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