Meditating with Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004)

The young photographer is just starting out. At 24, with military service in hand and returning from a trip to Africa, Henri Cartier-Bresson bought his first photographic camera and set to work. His Leica finally allows him to capture first-hand the reality around him. It must be said that his outlook is already rich in angles, backgrounds and contrasts: initially trained in a painter’s studio, he discovered the world of the Cubists and Surrealists from which he will take up many codes. Look at the shapes and volumes in this photo: the large flat surface of the stretched canvas which extends beyond the frame highlights the folds and curves of the two characters, captured at hip height and whose clear shadow spreads across the fabric without their knowledge. She catches them in the act of curiosity. The scene almost has something daring: the everyday photographer cultivates his art as an “eroticism of the eye”.

Because what should be seen without difficulty is hidden here, behind the curtain that screens; thus made desirable, awakening the imagination. The two men, hands in their pockets for one and behind their backs for the other, absorbed in their observation for one and embarrassed to be seen for the other, evoke many bright or dark worlds. That of the child who discovers life. Or that of the adult who gets lost. A building in the distance fortunately pierces the forbidden horizon. It brings us back to the world of the city, windows and home. “Only measurement never reveals its secret,” muses the photographer. Phew, let’s breathe.