Biography
Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in 1908 in France and died in 2004. Marthe, who was his mother, substantially motivated him to attend chamber music proms and reading poetry constantly. Cartier-Bresson had an extensive interest in painting at the age of five, after which his parents employed two art tutors to guide him. After WWII, he began producing his films after watching Eric and Griffith’s movies and developed a high interest in photography. Cartier-Bresson learned about French neoclassic and Cubist aesthetics at Andre Lhote school in 1926. The school taught him how to learn ‘photography without a camera’ and integrated it with studying portrait painting. Learning art and literature and a massive preference for Surrealism ideologies made him acquire more skills.
At the same time, he followed Robert Coper’s advice to enter the photojournalism field after acquiring a camera from his trip to Africa. Martin Munkacsis Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika (c. 1929) photograph made Cartier-Bresson pursue this disciple with seriousness as it influenced him significantly. At Julien Levy Gallery, it is where Cartier-Bresson made his first exhibition after learning the montage’s principles from Paul Strand. After joining the communist newspaper founders, he returned to photography despite being the French military after unrest in Europe.
His Le Retour movie made him considerably define wartime photojournalism. Along with George Rodgers, Seymour, and Capa, he co-established Magnum Photos in 1947, which safeguarded the interests of photographers, like preserving reproduction rights. His book The Decisive Moment embedded a total of 126 diverse photo portfolios, enabling him to acquire international acclamation. His photographs combined modern art and surrealism philosophies to give their real meanings. After retiring from photography, he engaged in partial paintings and established the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, along with his daughter Melanie and his wife, Martine Frank.
The Photograph Connection with Cartier-Bresson Work
The image of Seville, Spain, 1933, is linked to the Cartier-Bresson work of photography, particularly those connected to war. When entire faculties merge in the face of running actuality, taking photography becomes necessary. To a greater extent, the image depicts a significant visual expression of asserting the encounters and situations around his life. The picture shows exceptional photographic prowess and skills at capturing spontaneity, thrillers, absurdity, and all the general occasions that happened before him. Cartier-Bresson continued using the camera as the third eye during his more than sixty years of career, which encapsulated humanity’s refinement and generated the most insightful and striking photographs that received international approbation. In that case, the image showcases his prowess in seeking and capturing the moment that will have not at all been archived.
Significantly, the image was captured before the Spanish Civil War to showcase people’s imaginary worry episodes. This wild picture was the genesis of enhancing modern photography in his professional photojournalism career, which manifested quality transitions of the topographic area and the past highlights of the modern. Cartier-Bresson encountered several events and learned how the war destroys the world while undertaking his camerawork duties. Therefore, the image of Seville, Spain,1933, captured before Franco’s Civil War, showed how photojournalism can manifest the environmental destruction and war-torn structures due to battles.
Patron (Who Commissioned It)
Due to its value, the image can sell for millions of dollars in the market. The Magnum company authorized the production of the Seville, Spain, 1933 photograph during the same year, which safeguarded it from the reselling and protecting the interests of the Cartier-Bresson. The organization, through its sponsorship, only gave command on where the image was to be exhibited. It was presented at the Dream Show from 7 August to 2 October 1993. Despite that, the image was manifested in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 2002 and 2008, at the National Gallery of Art, and in Washington DC, in 1994. After gaining public exposure, the patron Magnum, made him notable and visible in modern photojournalism despite giving Cartier-Bresson job security.
Magnum’s commissioned works give extensive insights into interesting and lesser-known parts of the Cartier-Bresson portfolio. The image depicts international key events and hidden stories and educates photography’s sophisticated cultural rank by interlinking commerce, documentary, and art. Through rights preservation, the image commissioning by Magnum indicates how photographers shaped visual languages and gave the authority of the free interpretation, leading to ironic, astonishing, and humorous results.
The Original Intent or Purpose of the Image
The image is intended to capture the human spirit, which becomes impacted during the unrest. The photograph was captured in a region with bombed buildings whereby the children used to play. However, Cartier-Bresson concentrates on the kids’ lack of energy and worries about playing. As a result, the picture communicates the absence of optimism due to the escalation of the battle, which rendered individuals hopeless and worried. In that case, it serves as a source of not giving life inspiration and intends to preserve cultural history even at war times.
Beyond every war, people must either recollect or continue suffering from stress. Despite the generation involved in the battle, another one is born that significantly becomes worried about the repercussions of unfavorable conditions created by combat, suppressing their dreams and impeding growth and development. Another purpose of the image is to show how the country has destroyed itself, and it requires rebuilding for the children to be cheerful. Seville, Spain, 1933, is a white and black image, indicating the unfavorable political conditions of Spain, worst for the children to live. In the picture, Cartier-Bresson focuses his camera on an empty part of a wall substantially destroyed by the bomb to show the freedom the children are anticipating acquiring despite the unfavorable environment.
Subject
The primary subject depicted in the image is the children playing and others worried when depression and war were engulfing Spain. In that case, Cartier-Bresson’s journalistic eye was at work, showcasing a group of twelve kids through a hole in a white wall, with some vigorously playing and others standing in a damaged and abandoned building. At the time, the Spanish Civil War had escalated, damaging several municipalities when he toured Seville city. Due to Seville’s strategic location, the photograph quickly became linked with the tragedies of World War I, although it was taken three years before the conflict began. The school-aged children can be seen in the background, interacting, climbing through the holes, watching the camera, and not crying but highly worried. The children are anxious about the war damaging their living area and are highly pessimistic that they would not acquire any peace, even during battles.
Technology and Materiality
To A greater extent, Cartier-Bresson used the 35-mm Leica camera to capture the image. Since it was a new addition to the market, it facilitated his spontaneous style of photography as the camera was tiny and portable. As a result, he could capture actual images without disturbing the subjects’ lives. Like Seville, Spain, 1933, the camera produced good photos leading to their publication, commissioning, and exhibition. The camera offered extensive anonymity and spontaneity, making the work of Cartier-Bresson easier.
Besides that, he used the grayscale printing technique for the black and white prints. The image aspects of the dark and light aspects become integrated with the multiple gray shades through the use of a mixture of color inks. The framing photography technique was deployed in the image, whereby its usage via the hole in the damaged structure was adequate in engendering the illusion of depth and space. He composed some kids in the background and overlapped others in front of the framing wall’s foreground to create room and make the viewer differentiate the objects in the two areas. When the image was made, the viewers could have developed a strong feeling of premonition, anticipating that the worry of the children playing may be long-run. The surrounding where the children were playing showcased that it had been recently destroyed, indicating the phenomenon might reoccur. Therefore, during the making of the photograph, the viewers could have projected future unrest.
Caption/Titles
The image has the title ‘Seville, Spain (1933),’ which tends to impact people’s interpretation. At first, the people believed that the destruction of the building, as shown in the picture, occurred in 1933, particularly during the Civil War. Secondly, individuals may interpret that the image was taken in a specified geographic location, which is Seville, Spain. Therefore, they may translate the picture by acknowledging that the kids worry about the battle ramifications and tend not to thrive under harsh conditions as they interact and play uncheerfully due to the destroyed structures. The humans become inclined and limited to think above the typical circumstances and solely becoming interested in what happened at Seville in 1933, resulting in the destruction of property, which gave the kids much panic.
Formal Analysis
Significantly, the size of the image measures approximately 19.3 × 28.9 cm. Therefore, it is large enough to clarify what is happening in the picture. The photographer’s position is behind the damaged walls so that he can capture the scenes of the subject, the children’s activities, without any interference. This enables showcasing the actual situation on the ground without raising any attention. Contrast refers to the variation scope between an image’s darkest and the lightest colors. In the Seville, Spain, 1933 image, the photographer uses bright lights in its background and the deemed lights in the foreground to focus on the destroyed wall. Its dark colors in the front show what the picture’s subject is doing with clarity. The image’s background is so bright to eliminate any unintended concentration spearheaded by the photograph.
The photo’s composition shows how the children relate to the damaged building walls. Despite the destruction, the children actively continue with their plays without any concern. The main colors observed in the image are black and white to indicate how old the photograph was when there were no digital cameras. The colors help eliminate any distractions and make the viewer concentrate on primary aspects, including patterns, shapes, and composition. The spaces assist in showing the activities carried out by the children for the viewer to see. The graphic pattern of the photo whereby the children are not in motion, integrates the entire photograph with their low vitality.
Analysis and Meaning
The photograph’s context showcases children playing and others panicking when the building becomes damaged by the bombings. This photographic surrealism masterpiece captures substantial surprises that tend to engender difficulty in interpretation even for the highly accurately observant viewer. Despite the unchildlike surroundings, the kids continue playing, whereby others progress by engaging in other tasks undisturbed while others address the camera. There exist several things, both seen and unseen, in the image. The picture encompasses a robust geometric form impacted by surrealism and cubism. In the image one can notice twelve kids engaging in multiple activities in the rumble.
A person cannot see that the young one’s unrest and worry was brought about by the political agitation in the Spanish Republic. A viewer can observe an empty portion of the stuccoed and white wall, which serves as the scene frame. One can see uncheerful kids watching the camera, one child looking at the ground, a boy pocketing, and another holding his waist. The viewer can see the rubbles from the wrecking, which are not good for the kids to play with. The rest of the children engage in playful acts while their mouths are closed, indicating no joy. Even though the young ones showcase the uncheerful appearance, the image seems to manifest the political sub-context, considering Franco’s Civil War three years later.
The viewer can notice that the image’s space is large enough, and the breached foreground wall serves as the stage for the in-front actors and the window to the background drama. At first sight, the shot seems to be a collage of cut-out components rather than a photograph created with a single exposure. The white paint on the stuccoed wall even merges with the white borders of the shot, implying that the four lads closest to the camera had practically ripped a hole, allowing them to escape their world. One can observe the crumbling walls and rubbles on the ground where the children play energetically.
The viewer notices out of the twelve kids, a small child is leaning on a damaged wall. The unseen is that the photographer took the picture without interfering with the kids by his presence, making them express themselves naturally. In this image, only the boys approaching the camera are aware of the presence of Cartier-Bresson, creating unpredictable theater. Besides, one cannot see that the natural facial expression exhibited by the kids despite having a closer proximity to the photographer, is due to covering the camera’s shinny portions to obtain actual spontaneity.
During production, the picture could have showcased diverse meanings to the viewers. At first, the image was a way of communicating with them by reminding them of the previous battles that had happened previously. Therefore, it acted as a preparation for them on how to tackle war in the future. Besides, the photograph meant that the viewers should be warned of the impeding adverse effects of the battle. The war led to damaging the buildings spearheaded by the political turmoil, which created an unpleasant place for the children to play and enjoy themselves. It is easy to destroy a city through raids than to develop it, which damages the historical culture of people living in peace and harmony. During the production period, the picture meant to the viewers that behind every storm, there is hope, even though it might not occur. The children are playing in a devastating environment, but they remain concerned about their future. In such a situation, individuals need to recollect themselves, stop blaming one another, work together through interactions and engage in productive activities to avoid depression from the unrest extensively.
Today’s people may not have diverse interpretations of the photograph. Nowadays, the picture serves as a part of the Spanish Civil War history, which happened three years after it was taken. It helps appreciate the political transformations that the countries have come from by uniting their citizens to have the national cohesion to create peace in the country. Today, the photograph may be interpreted as a warning about the dangers of war that may destroy properties. In the avoidance of such, people will continue living happily. The rubbles indicate the challenges people encounter during the war, causing unrest and unrest to them. Significantly, war is unpredictable, but individuals can avoid it with appropriate policies to have equal interaction and freedom. From 1933 up to now is 89 years, which people require to acknowledge how far they have come from having many Civil Wars to having democracy.
Bibliography
Allbeson, Tom. Photography, reconstruction, and the cultural history of the postwar European City. Cardiff: Routledge, 2020.
Good, Jennifer and Paul Lowe. Understanding photojournalism. Oxford: Routledge, 2020.
Haworth-Booth, M. “Cartier-Bresson, Henri.” Grove Art Online. 2003. Web.
“MoMa.” Henry Cartier-Bresson:Seville, Spain, 1933. Web.
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Seville, 1933. Web.
Walsh, Andrew Samuel. “Empathy and engagement in translation: Langston Hughes’s versions of Lorca’s Gypsy ballads.” In New Approaches to Translation, Conflict, and Memory, pp. 45-63. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019.