SF Moma Review

Cartier-Bresson

All of his photographs have similar elements for example:

-Black and white

-Extreme angles from high to low and low to high. He doesn't show all of the body, in many of his photos its either the head or the body. The body looks contorted in some.

-There was little use of shadow.

-Relationships between people, there are rare moments of comradeship. For example, a photo of a Student Demonstration in Paris in 1968, which showed all the students are holding each other's hands and it represents unity.

-He creates perspective and depth. In Allee du Prado, Marseille depth is created through many many trees eventually getting smaller and smaller. There's something foreboding waiting ahead.

It is obvious from the exhibit that he is a photojournalist and took street photos. I felt like I was getting a history lesson, but shown through photographs because he captures all backgrounds. I saw photos from Africa to China to India and Mexico. Each culture had a different, unique element added in the photo. In China there was traditional dresses and calligraphy in the background. Religion was expressed in India of monk type people raising their hands to the sky dressed with skirt-type bottoms and no shirt. In Europe there was more architecture shots. In New York, you saw a complete 180. There were people dressed in sunglasses and hats, they had all these accessories and people who are reading. Even in photos of Boston in 1947, intellectuals were the models. People sitting looking poised on a stiff chair with spectacles.

None of his photographs were posed or over thought. He captured people in their most natural habitat so there was no chance to pose. The people were following their everyday routine. Nothing is staged and everything is spontaneous, in the moment. The more unsuspecting his models are of him taking the photo, the better because they have no time to react. He never wasted time waiting for the perfect photo because once he got that one photo it became a masterpiece.

The faces of his subjects are not attractive, they're not the "smile cheese" expressions. In fact, rarely was true happiness shown. I liked the photo in New York taken in 1946 of a large crowd. Even though you cannot see some of the faces and some of them are blurred, you can understand the pain. He shows the feelings subtly.

He references water or the slums frequently in places like Mexico in the 1930's or La Villette, Paris. Many of his photographs showed poverty and the poor aspects in life, nothing was glamorous about them. There were many photos of the market where trading was happening. Immigrants seemed to be a common theme. They were hard working and there was little time for breaks. Each elderly person had the same expression of despair which I thought was interesting.

One of his most famous photographs is probably the man jumping over the puddle taken in 1932, what a rare opportunity. What luck! The shape of the fence as strong, iron bars with rust is one of the best parts of the photo. It is everything around the model that counts. Like the ripples in the water or the dirt on the hanging clothes.

Exposed

The video: This was an entirely different exhibit, all of the photos were in color and there was an antique look. There were many examples faces in the mirror and even though the mirror showed the same face reflected back, it was almost like you could see something deeper in the mirror. Like the mirror showed the truth. There was also the similar theme of cigarettes and leather clothing. It was interesting because nobody looked directly into the camera, the eyes were set on something else, but they looked drained or filled with anguish.

Photos: There were photos of people who had deformed bodies with severed parts. There was also no eye contact. Pieces of the models faces were hidden by a hand or a mask, like in Soherzo di follia (1940's). It captured celebrities and stars at their worst moment. Paris Hilton probably did not want a photo of her in the back of a police car to be exhibited in a museum, so it also seemed like an invasion of privacy. But the photos had no limits. There were photos of jumping and suicides. One was even titled "Suicide Daughter" by Lee Miller (1945). It was of the tortured and the punished. The photographers were not afraid to show what many were reluctant to take photos of.