Can you explain why HCB chose this photo?

[snusmumriken]

So why he took it is now solved but why he included it in a book unless viewers are told the context is that doesn't make sense to me. Maybe by the time you get to the picture in the book there is enough information there so that the viewer can make a connection?

No, there is no more information in the book, just the place and date for each photo. In fact, the book contains another riddle over its division into numbered sections, which I raised in a previous thread.

PS - In case anyone is concerned, I don’t obsess about this all the time. I have a full and varied life!

 

[Alex Benjamin]

PS - In case anyone is concerned, I don’t obsess about this all the time. I have a full and varied life!

Having the time, and the inclination, to muse about such things is a luxury one should be grateful for. Not to mention letting one's mind wander inquisitively is very healthy for the brain.

 

[Pieter12]

HCB consulted his plumber, who chose the photo

 

[Harry Callahan]

Found something which might help:

"He re-joined French military as a photographer at the outbreak of World War II. He was captured and taken prisoner in a German labor camp, where he was held for three years. He escaped on his third attempt and if his devotion to the camera was ever in question, one of his first actions was to return to the hiding spot where he buried his 35 mm Leica camera prior to capture, and retrieved it."

Henri Cartier-Bresson and His Most Famous Photos

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs are a time machine to exact moments in history, making him a pioneer of street photography.

www.invaluable.com

 

[Alex Benjamin]

HCB consulted his plumber, who chose the photo

The decisive plumber.

I like it.

 

[Pieter12]

No, there is no more information in the book, just the place and date for each photo. In fact, the book contains another riddle over its division into numbered sections, which I raised in a previous thread.

PS - In case anyone is concerned, I don’t obsess about this all the time. I have a full and varied life!

I believe the book was based on a show at ICP in 1979, an exhibition of prints personally selected by Henri Cartier-Bresson representing his most significant works. Maybe it was more impactful on the wall in relation to other works. But the plumber theory is still valid.

 

[Arthurwg]

Well, I went back and had another look. I'm starting to like it. Maybe HCB was trying to show that he wasn't a one trick pony.

 

[foc]

The decisive plumber.

 

[Harry Callahan]

There also could be a another reason why this picture was important for HCB:

Back in these days it was rather normal for people to grow their own vegetables, potatoes, fruits etc. in their garden. There weren`t supermarkets all over the place and if you wanted fresh vegetables etc. you had to go to a traditional market, or to a farmer - but most people didn`t have a car back then.
Therefore it probably was easier and cheaper to grow some of your food in your own garden.
During war food supply usually gets worse, so having access to such a garden can be critical for survival. HCB had been in a nazi-prison for three years, he likely was malnourished when he managed to escape.
He probably needed the vegetables, herbs etc. form a garden like this to recover - maybe even to stay alive.

It`s possible that this picture has a very fundamental meaning for his live.

 

[Chuck1]

I like the image, the squirrel nest is a bit ugly, I'd crop it out, hcb rolling over...

 

[Daniela]

OK. Dug a little deeper. Can confirm that it's a photo of the kitchen garden of the farm where his wife Ratna Mohini took shelter during the war, taken in 1944.

You rock!

Found something which might help:

"He re-joined French military as a photographer at the outbreak of World War II. He was captured and taken prisoner in a German labor camp, where he was held for three years. He escaped on his third attempt and if his devotion to the camera was ever in question, one of his first actions was to return to the hiding spot where he buried his 35 mm Leica camera prior to capture, and retrieved it."

Henri Cartier-Bresson and His Most Famous Photos

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs are a time machine to exact moments in history, making him a pioneer of street photography.

www.invaluable.com

Awesome article. Thank you for sharing!

 

[snusmumriken]

On reflection, the superb sleuthing by @Alex Benjamin has explained (a) why HCB was at that location, and (b) one reason why he may have been fond of the image. But for me it doesn’t satisfactorily explain (c) why he took the photo, or (d) why he considered it good enough for this retrospective selection.

BTW, I found that if you view all HCB photos on the MoMa website, the thumbnails are arranged in date order, which is very helpful.

 

[Molli]

Coming from a writing background, I'm with Gertrude Stein,
“I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear Readers, are an afterthought.”

Many thanks to @Alex Benjamin for the insights and further information specific to that particular photo. I really appreciate both.
I'm always somewhat gobsmacked at those who feel an artist "owes" them something beyond what they've already given. That's not how I perceive the original question posed, which is interesting and thought provoking, but how I feel some have responded: not with any genuine curiosity but more with an attitude of, "how dare Henri Cartier-Bresson inflict this on me!"

Thanks again to @snusmumriken and @Alex Benjamin for the interesting discussion - I enjoyed reading your thoughts.

 

[Arthurwg]

Back in these days it was rather normal for people to grow their own vegetables, potatoes, fruits etc. in their garden.

The way things are going, we may get back to this sooner rather than later.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

But for me it doesn’t satisfactorily explain (c) why he took the photo

But haven't we all taken photographs of a place just because it meant something to us? Just to have a "perfect" memory of it at that particular time?

But for me it doesn’t satisfactorily explain... (d) why he considered it good enough for this retrospective selection

This opens up another interesting conversation. What is a "good" photo? Must it absolutely respond to formal and/or compositional expectations? Who sets them? If a photo captures perfectly the mood, or the memory, of a specific place at a specific moment—if the photographer considers it to be so—, can it not be "good enough"?

Another interesting one is can a "just so-so", but meaningful, photograph, while lacking enough interest to stand alone, make perfect sense within the larger narrative of a book—regardless, I may add, whether or not the viewer is able to make total sense of the narrative in question?

After all, in a novel, not every sentence, not every paragraph is ever perfect.

Your question about this specific photograph is extremely interesting, but, to me, can only be answered if we move away from its specificity and could ask HCB what this book means to him.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

It was a retrospective...a drawing of his done as a three year old could have been "good enough" for the show.

It had meaning for him, and thanks to some most excellent sleuthing, we now know why.

 

[Daniela]

Another interesting one is can a "just so-so", but meaningful, photograph, while lacking enough interest to stand alone, make perfect sense within the larger narrative of a book—regardless, I may add, whether or not the viewer is able to make total sense of the narrative in question?

I was just thinking about this too...@snusmumriken : can we ask you to post the photos that accompany this one, before and after? The problem is that we might end up needing to see the photos before and after those, and well, whole book! Nevermind, I'll look for it at the library.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

On reflection, the superb sleuthing by @Alex Benjamin has explained (a) why HCB was at that location, and (b) one reason why he may have been fond of the image. But for me it doesn’t satisfactorily explain (c) why he took the photo, or (d) why he considered it good enough for this retrospective selection.

BTW, I found that if you view all HCB photos on the MoMa website, the thumbnails are arranged in date order, which is very helpful.

For the same reason people take selfies. Ego. We all love ourselves.

 

[Pieter12]

For the same reason people take selfies. Ego. We all love ourselves.

I doubt that ego had anything do with the photo in question. It had some significance to HCB, possibly the circumstances under which it was taken or a personal resonance. The image was important enough to him to include in his retrospective, As far as the technical aspects, HCB was never a stickler for technical perfection.

 

[snusmumriken]

But haven't we all taken photographs of a place just because it meant something to us? Just to have a "perfect" memory of it at that particular time?

Of course, but unless the photo might mean something to others, I would keep it to myself.

Another interesting one is can a "just so-so", but meaningful, photograph, while lacking enough interest to stand alone, make perfect sense within the larger narrative of a book—regardless, I may add, whether or not the viewer is able to make total sense of the narrative in question?

It must be a difficult task for someone of that stature to select a retrospective collection. How many photos to select? Who decides how many? If the target is too big, there will be more packing pieces. Does the fact that it is a retrospective license the photographer to include some of those secretly autobiographical shots? Is creating a satisfying sequence of images more important than which photos to include? To what extent do you argue with the publisher/curator? Is there a minimum technical quality, for the sake of consistency? Etc, etc.

Any single-author collection of photos is revealing about the photographer. Some people don't think about that, or don't want to try to understand the personality behind the photographs. I am one who does - I enjoy the fact that different people take utterly different photos. It seems HCB liked to be enigmatic, an almost un-photographed photographer who gave almost no information about his images. It adds to his intrigue, but doesn't it also imply a certain arrogance? Maybe HCB thought that all his photos were intelligible as presented. For photos like the one that prompted this thread, that's evidently not the case, and we now understand the personal meaning, of the location at least. Did HCB presume that viewers would dig deeper if they wanted to understand; or that they'd be content with the answer "Personal: none of your business"?

Incidentally, I noticed from the MoMA website that most of the other HCB people-less 'landscapes' in their collection are relatively late works, from the late 1960s and 70s. Dammit, he was out taking those things when I was in school!

 

[koraks]

doesn't it also imply a certain arrogance?

No.

 

[Don_ih]

I doubt that ego had anything do with the photo in question. It had some significance to HCB, possibly the circumstances under which it was taken or a personal resonance. The image was important enough to him to include in his retrospective, As far as the technical aspects, HCB was never a stickler for technical perfection.

I agree. Ego had nothing to do with this. If he was a stickler for any kind of perfection, it was compositional - and this photo doesn't fit in that category. His photos generally "guide the eye" -- with this one, you find yourself looking for the snowman in the blizzard.

Did HCB presume that viewers would dig deeper if they wanted to understand; or that they'd be content with the answer "Personal: none of your business"?

I think most of his photos stand on their own. He likely didn't care that no one would see the significance of this photo. He was in a position where he didn't need to care. They tend not to do retrospectives of unknowns.

 

[snusmumriken]

No.

'Zat a joke? No explanation, evidence or reasoning?

Perhaps I should have explained better. I was reminded of what HG Wells wrote after reading (or trying to read) James Joyce's Finnegans Wake: "Who the hell is this Joyce who demands so many waking hours of the few thousands I have still to live for a proper appreciation of his quirks and fancies and flashes of rendering?" Remember too that HCB was a great admirer of Joyce.

 

[koraks]

I understand what you meant. You suggested it might be arrogance on behalf of the maker that is somehow indirectly responsible for the second-guessing of others. It isn't so. There's not much more to say to that than "no". Maybe followed by "not necessarily".
Really, if the 'no' needs to be explained, there's probably not much of an explanation that would work anyway.

Also, the rhetoric question...I dunno. Why.

I guess this thread ain't for me. Cheers.

 

[Don_ih]

t seems HCB liked to be enigmatic, an almost un-photographed photographer who gave almost no information about his images. It adds to his intrigue, but doesn't it also imply a certain arrogance?

Yes, it does. But Cartier-Bresson's arrogance was justified - probably even more so from his point of view. A photo doesn't have much going for it all on its own. Most people seem to think the camera is responsible for it. Cartier-Bresson started taking photos at a time when practically no one thought they were worth anything. So whatever could add to the mythology, the better.