z-logo
open-access-imgOpen Access
Le Regard de Cartier-Bresson sur les Anglais
Author(s) -
Nicole Cloarec
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
lisa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1762-6153
DOI - 10.4000/lisa.3129
Subject(s) - coronation , george (robot) , ceremony , independence (probability theory) , dance , art history , art , history , humanities , literature , ancient history , statistics , mathematics , archaeology
In 1937 Henri Cartier-Bresson was sent to London to cover George VI’s coronation. The ceremony occurred at a moment of intense national exaltation after a decade of economic hardship and the constitutional crisis caused by Edward VIII’s decision to marry Mrs Simpson. However the photographer is not so much interested in the official images of the historical event as he is in its effects on the people who attend. Cartier-Bresson adopts a double decentering which gives the picture a fictional independence and invests it with benign mockery. Henri Cartier-Bresson was later to capture other important historical events such as George VI’s funeral in 1952 and Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Both events testify to a unified nation which is otherwise shown to be profoundly marked by rigid social conventions. In particular, the artist seems fascinated by the formal compositions that emerge from the “social dance” of the upper class, but he also dramatises the accidental meeting of different social classes as being worlds completely apart

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.
Having issues? You can contact us here