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Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, 1908–2004)
LOT ID: 68835
Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China, 1949

Silver Print, gelatin silver print
11.75 х 17.5 in. cm.
Signed, in ink on recto, with embossed stamp lower left corner on recto.
Lot description
Paper size is 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm); framed. Printed 1996.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908- 2004) is widely recognized as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. Cartier-Bresson developed a strong fascination with painting early on, and particularly with Surrealism. In 1932, after spending a year in the Ivory Coast, he discovered the Leica and began a life-long passion for photography. In 1933 he had his first exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. He later made films with Jean Renoir.

In 1947 along with Robert Capa and others, he founded Magnum Photos. After three years spent traveling in the East, in 1952 he returned to Europe, where he published his first book, Images à la Sauvette (published in English as The Decisive Moment).

He explained his approach to photography in these terms, '"For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression."
Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China by Henri Cartier-Bresson
  • Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China by Henri Cartier-Bresson
  • Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China by Henri Cartier-Bresson
  • Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China by Henri Cartier-Bresson
  • Sale of Gold in the Last Days of the Kuomintang, Shanghai, China by Henri Cartier-Bresson
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  • Henri Cartier-Bresson

    Sale of gold in the last days of Kuomintang, Shanghai, China
    gelatin silver print
    (H 11.7, W 17.6) in.
    (29.8 x 44.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$19,200
    Wednesday, October 17, 2007
    Phillips de Pury & Company New York
    Lot 00040
  • Henri Cartier-Bresson

    Sale of gold, Shanghai
    gelatin silver print
    (H 13.0, W 19.5) in.
    (33 x 49.5) cm.
    Sold for: US$13,200
    Wednesday, April 26, 2006
    Phillips de Pury & Company New York
    Lot 00268
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