Welcome to Pho·tog Friday!
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| Cartier-Bresson Standing to the Right as a POW in Germany, 1942. |
As noted in Part I of this special "Pho·tog Friday" series, World War II broke out in 1939 and Cartier-Bresson joined the French Army as a Corporal in the Film and Photo Unit. In June of 1940, Cartier-Bresson was captured during the "Battle of France", when Germany successfully occupied France. As a prisoner of war, Cartier-Bresson spent 35 months working for the Nazis. Cartier-Bresson was quoted as saying, "I performed thirty-two different kinds of hard manual labor. I worked as slowly and as poorly as possible".
After three attempts of escape
the P.O.W. Camp, Cartier-Bresson broke free in February of 1943 and
made his way to a farm in Touraine. While hiding at the farm, he
received false paperwork which allowed him to move about France a little
more freely. Cartier-Bresson made his way to Vosges, which was where
he had buried his Leica for safe-keeping prior to being captured. Throughout the remainder of the war, Cartier-Bresson worked underground and helped other escapees. He worked secretly with other photographers to cover the Occupation of France by the Nazis. Paris was liberated from the
Nazis in August of 1944 and Cartier-Bresson was armed... with his Leica:
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, France, WWII Liberation: The Alsace - A Bridge over the Rhine Near Strasbourg, 1944. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, France, WWII Liberation: Paris, 22 - 25 August, 1944. |
In April of 1945, Cartier-Bresson began to work on a short documentary movie about the repatriation of former prisoners of war and other displaced persons; a film which was commissioned by the
United States Office of War Information. The film was shot in Dessau, Germany Le Retour (The Return) was released in 1945. The French film can be viewed by clicking here although, below are a few of the iconic still images that Cartier-Bresson took while the movie was being made. In the first image, the woman standing in front of the table is being chastised for hiding in the crowd of prisoners... as she was actually a Gestapo Informer:
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Dessau, Germany, Gestapo Informer, 1945. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Dessau, Germany, 1945. |
After the war came to an end, Cartier-Bresson traveled to the United States:
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Mother and Son Reuniting after WWII, New York City, USA, 1946. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Employment Office, Chicago, Illinois, 1947. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Harlem New York City, USA, 1947. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1947. |
Cartier-Bresson stated the following about the image below: "This woman explained to me that the flagpole over her door was broken but 'on such a day as this, one keeps one's flag on one's heart'. I felt in her a touch of the strength and robustness of the early American pioneers':
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Independence Day, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1947. |
In 1947, Cartier-Bresson formed the Magnum Photo agency along with photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and George Rodger. Magnum's main
goal was to "feel the pulse" of their subjects within the photographs.
The images were to be used to create change and can be seen as a service
to humanity. Each photographer was assigned a different section of the world to cover. Cartier-Bresson was assigned India and China:
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Refugee Camp, Punjab, Kurukshetra, India, 1947. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Birla House, Gandhi Dictates Message Before Breaking Fast, Delhi, India, 1948. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Birla House, Gandhi Leaving Moslem Shrine, Delhi, India, 1948. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Birla House, Nehru Announces Gandhi's Assassination, Delhi, India, 1948. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Kashmir, Srinagar, India, 1948. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Beijing, China, 1948. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, Jiangsu, Nankin, China, 1949. |
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| Cartier-Bresson, Henri, Shanghai, China, 1949. |
The 1940s was an important decade for Cartier-Bresson's Life: He fought in World War II, was a POW, covered the liberation of Paris as well as the Concentration camps, he traveled to the USA and began one of the most influential photography agencies there has ever been. Stay tuned for Part III as we explore deeper into Cartier-Bresson's life!
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01. "Henri Cartier-Bresson." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.
02. "Henri Cartier-Bresson." Magnum Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.
03. "Henri Cartier Bresson's Le Retour." Web log post. 5B4: Photographs and Books. N.p., 5 June 2007. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.
