Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Robert Frank sacrificed much that is formally beaituful in photography -- and later started actually attacking it, scratching the negs, writing on the prints, etc -- in order to get at some social and human "story", a narrative. Exactly the opposite of Cartier-Bresson, I think, who had the rarer gift -- he SAW the narrative that was already there. And he could compose it. Almost within the instant -- or sometimes not almost, but actually, within the instant. Frank and even more so Gene Smith were not above moving things around, asking people to do something, setting up a shot in other words, in order to tell a story they wanted to tell. Cartier Bresson wanted only to see the story, to perceive it. There are, of course, as Frank is recognizing, political implications in these two approaches, especially for two Europeans who'd lived through the war years. In the end if has to be a fight then I'm on Cartier Bresson's side, whose eye I think is closer to God's. Caesar will be Caesar will be Caesar, there's no stopping him, the Resistance is romantic, even necessary from the human point of view, but in the end it doesn't win, larger historical forces win, so what can we do, but find, and insist upon an unbreakable loyalty to, the truth? Tomorrow I'll likely feel differently. But as good and fascinating and muscular as Frank is as an artist, Cartier Bresson is in another category altogether. Frank we can validly compare to, I don't know, Matthew Brady, Edward Curtis, Beloqc, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, etc. Except he had more wit than any of those. An American Lartigue perhaps. But stylistically grittier and less enamored of the rich. Etc etc. he's a Beat poet with a camera. Cartier Bresson, on the other hand, we can validly compare to Michelangelo. On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Charcot <charcot at comcast.net> wrote: > Thanks Bob - I follow TOP on a daily basis - it's on my web menu - between > it and AmericansuburbX you can't go wrong for a daily dose of photography > commentary > > ernie > On Apr 17, 2010, at 11:19 AM, Robert D. Baron wrote: > > > You might also find this interesting: > > > > > http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2010/04/henri-cartierbresson-at-moma-and-elsewhere.html > > > > or > > > > http://tinyurl.com/y2pqbak > > > > --Bob > > > > ==-On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Charcot <charcot at comcast.net> > wrote: > > > >> bob - should be fun. Both the NY Times article and the New yorker draw > robert Frank into the mix. Interesting. I haven't followed Frank's stuff > at all since The Americans which I consider one of the greatest photography > tomes ever. > >> > >> ernie > >> On Apr 17, 2010, at 10:11 AM, Robert D. Baron wrote: > >> > >>> I read the review earlier this morning, before seeing your post. > >>> > >>> The quote you have in quotation marks is I believe from Robert Frank, > >>> while the reviewer's conclusion is as stated in your post. > >>> > >>> I'll be interested in your opinions after you've seen the exhibit. > >>> > >>> I've seen a lot of HCB's work and while I disagree for the most part > >>> with this reviewer's opinion of it I think I can see how he gets to > >>> it. > >>> > >>> --Bob > >>> > >>> ===On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Charcot <charcot at comcast.net> > wrote: > >>>> ?He traveled all over the goddamned world, and you never felt that he > was moved by something that was happening other than the beauty of it, or > just the composition.? The problem of Cartier-Bresson?s art is the > conjunction of aesthetic classicism and journalistic protocol: timeless > truth and breaking news. He rendered a world that, set forth at MOMA by the > museum?s chief curator of photography, Peter Galassi, richly satisfies the > eye and the mind, while numbing the heart. > >>>> > >>>> Read more: > http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/artworld/2010/04/19/100419craw_artworld_schjeldahl#ixzz0lN2EKWEc > >>>> > >>>> Sorry folks I don't get it - how does the reviewer draw all this from > HCB . I for one am planning on spending $ to go to one of the hosting > cities! > >>>> > >>>> ernie > >>>> > >>> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >