[Leica] Re: HCB exhibit

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

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