Take a look at this extraordinary photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson - Aquila degli Abbruzzi (1952). Then read the text below, another text taken from 'The Story of Art' by E.H. Gombrich (pp 496,497).
Can you relate it to (i) the texts you read by Hallstrom, (ii) our BIG question -
What is art?
"... it may be argued that a photographer such as Henri Cartier-Bresson (b.1908) enjoys as much esteem today as any painter now alive. Many a tourist may have snapped a view of a picturesque Italian village but it is most unlikely that any of them succeeded in producing such a convincing image as Cartier-Bresson did of Aquila degli Abbruzzi. With his miniature camera at the ready, Cartier-Bresson experienced the excitement of the huntsman lying in wait, finger on the trigger, for the precise moment to 'shoot'. But he has also confessed to a 'passion for geometry', which made him carefully compose any scene within his viewfinder. The result is that we feel that we are in the picture, that we sense the coming and going of the women carrying loaves up the steep incline, and remain captivated by the composition - of the raillings and the steps, the church and the distant houses - which rivals in interest many more contrived paintings."
22/01 to 18/04/2010 - 10 am to 6 pm
