“REGARDED BY THE FRENCH AS A NATIONAL TREASURE”: CARTIER-BRESSON’S PARIS A VUE D’OEIL, 1984

CARTIER-BRESSON, Henri. Paris a Vue d’Oeil. Paris: Musée Carnavalet, (1984). Slim quarto, original white stiff paper wrappers. $125.

First edition of this scarce museum catalogue, picturing 133 Cartier-Bresson images of Paris taken between 1929 and 1976. From the collection of award-winning photojournalist Peter Turnley.

“Regarded by the French as a national treasure… Cartier-Bresson has delighted and informed millions with his photographs” (Claude Cookman). “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). Published in connection with the 1984-85 exhibition at the Musée Carnavalet, this assemblage of Cartier-Bresson’s images of Paris reflects his continual “search for the harmony and balance manifested in all events; he photographed to find the ‘transcendent’ order that links all cultures, all nations, and all historical moments” (Roth, 20). Text in French. From the collection of noted photojournalist Peter Turnley, who has covered “almost every important international news event of the last 15 years” (New York Times). Owner signature on title page.

A fine copy.