Ahmedabad, India, Women Drying Saris

Henri Cartier-Bresson is renowned for the graceful perfection of his compositions-the evocative pictorial union of form and content described by his famous phrase "the decisive moment." Cartier-Bresson pioneered the use of the small, hand-held Leica 35mm camera, beginning in 1931. The Leica functioned as a pure extension of his eye, allowing him to photograph quickly, intuitively and-from the standpoint of his subjects-almost invisibly. While his best-known work of the 1930s was made in Europe, Cartier-Bresson traveled the world in later decades. He was particularly fascinated by India, which he first visited in 1947, returning at least five more times in twenty years. In 1948, he produced a photo essay on the death of Gandhi for Life magazine.