Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) - The Var department, Hyères, France, 1932

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Var department, Hyères, France, 1932.

In Hyères, on the French Riviera, Henri Cartier-Bresson captured in 1932 one of the most iconic moments in the history of photography: a cyclist speeding past a spiral staircase. The composition achieves a timeless harmony of geometry, rhythm, and movement, embodying Cartier-Bresson’s famous decisive moment.

With the inscription "Henri Cartier-Bresson copyright Magnum Photos" in the lower right corner. It is a digital print on 10" x 7.5" glossy photo paper, in fine condition. Printed Later, 2000's.

Critics have described this photograph as an example of the fixed-explosive, in the words of curator Clément Chéroux: images that, while freezing motion at the click of the shutter, still preserve the energy of action, suspended between stillness and dynamism.

More than a photograph, this work is a visual manifesto of the 20th century: Cartier-Bresson’s eye transforming the fleeting into the eternal. To acquire this piece is to own one of the founding symbols of modern photography.

Henri Cartier-Bresson is regarded as the father of photojournalism and one of the most influential photographers of all time. His legacy stands alongside that of other masters such as Man Ray, Ansel Adams, Edward Steichen, Werner Bischof, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Philippe Halsman, Diane Arbus, Eve Arnold, Robert Doisneau, Josef Sudek, André Kertész, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Steve McCurry, Sebastião Salgado, Andreas Gursky, among many others.