Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A facsimile edition of The Scrapbook -- now THAT is a must have! <http://shopping.icp.org/store/product.html?product_id=26088> Ric Carter http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/ricc/ On Feb 11, 2007, at 10:36 AM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > The International Center of Photography in New York is hosting an > exhibit of Henri Carter-Bresson's scrapbook through April 29th. Why > HCB's scrapbook? It seems that after WW2, HCB arrived in the US > with a single scrapbook which summed up what he considered his best > work, sort of a photographic autobiography. The images in the > scrapbook became the focus of a MoMA show which burnished his > reputation as the premier Leica photographer of his generation. The > scrapbook, itself, was never seen in public. Now the International > Center of Photography has restored it. > > HCB has been described as "an artistic journalist who never allows > the immediacy of the event to get the better of his eye." But the > scrapbook reveals that he wasn't much of a technician. His photos > would probably be thoroughly criticized on the LUG. The scrapbook > shows that many of his tiny pictures were blurry and hard to make > out. The HCB legend owed much to the capabilities of lab > technicians who managed to tease out memorable images from his photos. > > HCB claimed never to crop his photographs, contending that he > framed the image as he wanted before ever pressing the shutter > button. Apparently the scrapbook proves otherwise. Some of his most > famous pictures are shown in uncropped form and are quite different > from those released to the public. Does this ring a bell with > recent posts on the LUG? Still, critics regard peering into HCB's > scrapbook as similar to visiting a famous painter in his studio and > seeing the preliminary sketches as well as the finished works. If > you are in New York during the coming couple of months, don't miss > the exhibit. > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information