The Mind's Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers

The first compilation of writings by a master of photography.

One of the leading lights in photography of the twentieth century, Henri Cartier-Bresson is also a shrewd observer and critic. His writings on photography and photographers, which have appeared sporadically over the past forty-five years, are gathered here for the first time. Several have never before appeared in English.
The Mind's Eye features Cartier-Bresson's famous text on "the decisive moment" as well as his observations on Moscow, Cuba, and China during turbulent times, which ring with the same immediacy and visual intensity that he brings to his photography.
Now ninety years old, Cartier-Bresson remains as direct and insightful as ever in his writings. His commentary on photographer friends he has known—including Robert Capa, André Kertész, Ernst Haas, and Sarah Moon—reveal the impassioned and compassionate vision for which Cartier-Bresson is beloved.
16 Black-and-White Images

Library Journal

Supremely accomplished and influential French photographer Cartier-Bresson guided the evolution of the photographic medium while creating an enormous body of work. His photographs of people, famous and obscure, always contain a strong psychological component deriving from formally perfect compositions and a temporal ambivalence that characterizes only the most powerful static images. This slight book contains short essays by Cartier-Bresson along with some less interesting aesthetic epigrams and tributes to fellow artists. This is the first published collection of his writings, though large chunks are taken from books he published in the 1950s and 1960s. And while there's not a great deal of his writings to be collected, what's here is pithy and laconic without being sententious. His artistic philosophy is well captured by his landmark 1952 essay "The Decisive Moment," contained here, probably the most poetically instructive evocation of the field photographer's art yet written. This is a useful and important title from one of the defining sets of eyes in the cumulative visual record of the 20th century. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.--Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Henri Cartier-Bresson studied painting and literature until 1930, when he began his work in photography. His other books include The Decisive Moment and The Drawings of Henri Cartier-Bresson. He lives in Paris.