JF found an old photography book, published in 1952, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment. He liked the design of the cover by Matisse.
He found a piece of art history. Few books became as important as a work of art image-wise, and important for the pedagogical instruction of the introduction by the artist, reinforced by the way the images teach the philosophy of the artist.
JF now owns an original first edition, large at eleven and a half by fifteen inches, published by Simon and Schuster.
Why this Photography Book is a Breakthrough
Yes, the design of the book enabled the photos to shine, because of the artful sequencing of the photos, the full page bleeds, and mat black and white printing. In the world of art books, the images shot in Cartier-Bresson’s early years shown in this artful way influenced the way good photographers shoot and present work.
Also consider the influence of that title, The Decisive Moment. The moment when all the right elements come together to form a great image, not the capture of the image of the ‘top’ of the action, but capture of the image as FORM, a composition, a visual peak. Of course, we see this as art, not a real seen event, but a manufactured one that somehow captures the truth of an event, person, place, or time. The highest aim of art.
The value of the book, out of print for 69 years, lies in both its beauty and its rarity. Even though it didn’t sell well when published, the book influenced street photography, documentary photography, and photojournalism.
A Lost Art
The book speaks about a type of photography, a lost art. Now we stage or digitally manipulate images, focus on the concept or ‘reason’ to shoot, which defines so many of the images I send via my phone.
JF noticed the book doesn’t show any captions, which he finds frustrating. Today, we’re trained to look for meaning in captioned words instead of reading the visual language. Cartier- Bresson designed his book that way. The captions appear WAY at the back, grouped together.
The artist designed the size and layout of the book to match the way his Leica shot. Each big page holds one vertical image or two horizontal ones, or two pages spread open hold one big horizontal image. Pages are stitched so they lay flat to do so. The art is produced by the artist, not necessarily the technology, and not the other way around. We’re wont to force photos today through Photoshop and computer crops.
Beautiful Photography Book
So, collectors lucky enough to find this book pay dearly for the beautiful book about beautiful objects. Moreover this real book features textured pages, and its pages turn from left to right. Imagine!
Cartier-Bresson wrote the lengthy introduction, followed by two sections, unmarked as such, of photos. First, a series of shots in chronological order 1932-1947, the next a series of shots made for publication organized geographically through 1947-1952. The artist selected the images, left out many in his oeuvre, a lesson in editing.
Cartier-Bresson, trained as a painter, came up through classical drawing classes in France, yet in 1930-1960 he became enamored of photography. After 1960 he returned to drawing. Many of his images from this book are famous enough for one critic to call them “cultural wallpaper.” Robert Capa called the hard-to-find book a bible for photographers, and Cartier-Bresson became known as the father of modern photojournalism.
This photography book’s value:
Originally, in 1952, the book cost $12.50. Three thousand were produced in France, and seven thousand in America, which included a technical section written by another artist. Not the least of its beauty is the Matisse custom-designed cut-outs which he created, and his hand lettering of the title and the artist’s name, for which he LEFT OUT the hyphen.
How did it go out of print? It didn’t sell well in the first edition, although I see there’s a 2015 reprint now available. Another question: why no color shots? The artist saw color as inferior because of the slow speeds of color film. A piece of history, what?
The value of JF’s book is $2,000.
So fascinating – two artists – one book. Photography & fine art. Wondering if this pushed the notion of photography as fine art? Great column E!