Bresson Photos Reimagined as Satirical Paintings (2020)

So of all the photographers in the world, why Henri Cartier-Bresson? 

The best reason is for his amazing compositions. Among the plethora of photographers out there, his use of “geometry” as he calls it, is some of the best there is. As most of us know, he was classically trained by a painter named Andre Lhote (see Day 232), the author of an excellent book “Treatise of Landscape Painting.” Bresson was also inspired by the surrealist painters and took photos of quite a few famous masters like Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Maurice Tabard, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, and Pablo Picasso. He even considered himself a surrealist, but had to keep that a personal secret if he wanted to get any serious work as a photojournalist.

Quote from an Interview with Charlie Rose:

Charlie: Composition for you?

HCB: Geometry.

Charlie: Geometry? Are you born with that; a sense of geometry?

HCB: Has to be cultivated.

“It’s a rhythm, the way the head falls here, this goes back, there’s a line between different elements. There’s a square here, a rectangle, another rectangle. See, it’s all these problems which I’m preoccupied with. The greatest joy for me is geometry; that means a structure. You can’t go shooting for shapes, for patterns and all this, but it is a sensuous pleasure, an intellectual pleasure, at the same time to have everything in the right place. It’s a recognition of an order which is in front of you.”
~Henri Cartier-Bresson~

If you google the word “geometry” and look at the definition along with images, you’ll see lots of triangles, squares, circles, and rectangles. If you look in Bresson’s book “The Decisive Moment,” which is known to be “A Bible for Photographers,” you’ll even see a geometrical diagram. 

The diagrammed image is cropped (his 35mm camera was a 1.5 ratio) to be the same size as the phi rectangle. When we combine all of our knowledge of what geometry is (found online), with the phi rectangle next to the diagram on Bresson’s photo, we can see that dynamic symmetry is definitely geometry related. Whether or not you think Bresson used dynamic symmetry is beside the point. Start applying more geometry to your photography and art, then perhaps you’ll eventually learn that dynamic symmetry is a tool you’d like to use as well.

We’ve also got this diagram from Andre Lhote’s book with a geometric diagram. If you read the page below, you’ll learn that Lhote talks about the master painters and how they used phi to construct their masterpieces. He also mentions Matila Ghyka, who also wrote a book called “The Geometry of Art and Life.” All of these are breadcrumbs left behind for anyone seeking to know more.

For all of the reasons covered, that is why Henri Cartier-Bresson was the master of choice to pay an homage to. He prioritized composition in his work, surrounded himself with other artists, and followed in the footsteps of the masters before him.

So, Why Street Photography? 

Street photography has its finger on the pulse of the life as we live today, which is an important part of the history of our time. When we look back at the masterful paintings in museums, we see a history of their time. Imagine if it were all fantasy art with people floating in clouds or timeless like the nude figure (see #461). It would probably tantalize the eyes just as well, but we wouldn’t have the important aspect of history.

Ironically, I prefer mostly timeless photos and paintings that have no clues of when they were created. Some images or paintings might provoke an emotional response like humor because they present something relatable to the time we live in. This doesn’t mean in 200 years that emotional response will still have an impact on the viewer. Times change and things are sometimes no longer relative, that’s why we can’t rely on emotional response alone if our art is to stand the test of time. We have to have a solid foundation of design and technique as well.

A good example of creating art that represents the time you live in and still holds its emotional impact hundreds of years later is this painting by Joseph Ducreux “Self Portrait-Mocking,” painted in 1793. I saw this group of kids excitingly mocking the “mocking” painting. If you search out Ducreux, you’ll see more of his paintings capturing funny gestures.

When mixing satire with the time we live in, just as they do in movies (i.e. Fight Club, Office Space, Spaceballs, Anchorman, American Psycho, Borat, Team America), it gives us a chance to acknowledge trends that are humorous while also shedding light on potentially heavy topics. This was the approach for the ten paintings to follow, which were selected from Bresson’s best compositions.

Bresson Video

In the video below, you can see some clips of Bresson’s interview and see some of the photos he took of master artists.