Description

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THE PEOPLE OF MOSCOW, WITH 163 PHOTOGRAVURES, AND SIGNED BY HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

CARTIER-BRESSON, Henri. The People of Moscow. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. Quarto, original full tan buckram, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition in English of this famous photobook on Moscow by “one of the most important and influential photographers of this century,” signed by Cartier-Bresson on the title page.

After co-founding Magnum Photos in 1947, Cartier-Bresson began to travel throughout the world and “in 1954, he was the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. His goal was to photograph ‘human beings in the streets, in the shops, at work, and at play, anywhere I could approach them without disturbing reality.’ Both Paris Match and Life bought the rights, and in 1955 Paris Match devoted 24 pages to his photographs” (New York Times). This first edition in English of The People of Moscow appeared that same year. Cartier-Bresson fundamentally influencing successive generations with his particular “interest in photographing people and in capturing the essence of what has not previously been seen. He is famous for his theory of the ‘decisive moment—that is, seizing the split second when the subject stands revealed in its most significant aspect? Today he ranks as one of the most important and influential photographers of this century” (Blodgett, 96). See Roth, 134; Icons of Photography, 58. Photographs bright and clean, inner hinges expertly reinforced. Dust jacket with light sunning to spine, small chip to front cover and light edge-wear, very good.