Henri Cartier-Bresson

Library Journal

Galassi isolates and analyzes the photographer's 1932-34 work, which was surrealistic rather than photojournalistic, a distinction overlooked in earlier publications. In a lengthy essay that makes the book important to art libraries, Galassi examines Cartier-Bresson's work in the cultural and intellectual context of 1930s Europe, and considers such topics as the influence on the medium of technological developments. Galassi says of these photographs that ``not all are admirable but none is boring.'' The reproductions are sometimes rich, sometimes flat, due to an unevenness in the original images. Kathleen Collins, Library of Congress