Book: Europeans by Henri Cartier-Bresson

 I was given a copy of the above book recently, having read it many years ago when I first started studying photography, and found it profoundly moving to work through the images again seeing many old friends.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) travelled across Europe, from the Scandinavian fjords to the Irish bogs, in order to produce this collection of photographs. It brings together images spanning the years from the late 1920s to the early 1970s, and seeks to capture what it meant to be European.  Cartier-Bresson used his camera to document a way of life.  He thought of photography as a way of life and for almost five decades he used a camera to document life with a camera.

Brilliant beyond words, just as great photography should be. Cartier-Bresson was one of the most important photographers of the 20th Century and this book is a great reminder of why. The images are funny, sad, surreal, beautiful and above all humane.  He was undoubtedly a Master and for those who wish to understand what the decisive moment means, this is the book. We follow Cartier-Bresson's voyages in Europe and his impressions of the people and places he found along the way. This is a great sum-up of work from one of the big masters of photography.  

 My favourite images include 

Copies of the book are available through all the major outlets (Amazon, Play, etc) from £10 upwards. 

Eric Ravilious lecture

I went to Dillington House, Ilminster, yesterday with south west group organiser Amano Samarpan, to a talk on the artist Eric Ravilious.  The talk was given by biographer James Russell and covered Eric's adult life and how his work developed from when he attended the Royal College of Art until his death as a war artist in 1943 aged 39.

This talk came about as an idea to the south west group members as Amano suggested a visit to Barnstaple where there is a permanent exhibition of photographic work by Eric's son, Jame Ravilious.  James is well known for his 8000+ pictures of rural Devon and Amano felt it would be a good lead in to learn about Eric's artist work prior to a spring visit to Barnstaple.

Eric was originally known for his detailed wood engravings at which he excelled.

Illustrated book on wood engravings

Wood Engraving

As Eric grew more experienced in his art he changed to painting lithographs which showed immense texture in the larger areas in his pictures.  Texture seemed to allow him greater expression. 

The Lifeboat

Wilmington Giant

He was mainly an outdoor landscape artist but even when the weather was inclement he would sit inside a building and paint the outdoors through a frame such as a window or even a railway carriage door.

Belle Tout Lighthouse

Train Landscape

One interesting aspect of Eric's work was that he felt able to include parts of the landscape that photographers would do their utmost to remove or rework so as not to be noticed.  In the Wilmington Giant picture, rather than use artistic licence and leave out the rather crude fencing on the right hand side, he used it to lead the viewer's eye into and around the picture.

Eric eventually joined army as a war artist in 1939 but felt stifled and left to work in the navy.  Eventually he joined the air force and was posted to Iceland.  His plane was lost on a flight when he and his crew were sent out to look for another lost plane.  Eric was only 39 when he died and left his wife and four young children, one of whom was James Ravilious, the well known Devon photographer who went on to capture rural life in Devon on over 8000 images.

I went to hear this lecture because I had seen a small exhibition of James' work at the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter earlier this year.  It is also planned for the south west group of OCA students to hold a lecture on James' work and I thought it would be good background information to learn about his father, Eric.