A decisive moment in France at the end of the war, when a Nazi
sympathiser is identified. The manifest shame of the collaborator,
the vindictiveness of her denouncer, and the curiosity of the
onlookers say something about the war, and about human nature
#
Before he took up photography, Cartier-Bresson trained as an artist
with the cubist master Andre Lhote. Cartier-Bresson's appreciation
of the angles, composition and geometry of an image go back to these
lessons learned in his youth
#
In the Thirties,
Cartier-Bresson
revolutionised
the practise of
photography,
using a
lightweight,
portable Leica to
capture ordinary
people doing
ordinary things.
These outdoor
human interest
portraits
extended the
emotional range
of the photograph
#
Cartier-Bresson was concerned with the private experience of
everyday life. His most successful photos are those which capture
the inner life of the subject, unaware until it is too late of the
presence of the photographer
#
By 1937 Cartier-
Bresson's fame
had spread across
Europe. His
photographs of
the coronation of
King George VI in
London captured
the mood of
ordinary people:
celebrating, yet
aware of being
on-lookers, not
participants. This
photograph also
contains a very
striking piece
of social
commentary
#
Cartier-Bresson did not believe in long captions. This shot, taken in
Shanghai in 1949, gives no clue as to what the people are queuing for
so desperately, and the photographer does not enlighten us, but this
serves only to heighten the sense of struggle and urgency
#
The deep lyricism of this picture (Kashmir, 1947) is all the more
remarkable given that Cartier-Bresson never posed his subjects. Are
the woman's hands raised in prayer, in despair, or in sheer awe at
the scenery? The image invites us to invent our own story
@
After "Los
Olvidados",
Bunuel made a
further 11 films
in Mexico, among
them "Robinson
Crusoe", "The
Criminal Life of
Archibaldo de la
Cruz" and
"Nazarin". The
last, made in
1959, was the
story of an
idealistic priest
who tries to live a
truly Christian
life. It proved a
big success in
Europe
#
Franco's
government
invited Bunuel
home to make
"Viridiana"
(1961) and, even
more
surprisingly,
approved its
script. It was
acclaimed as one
of his major
works - except in
Spain, where the
authorities
quickly realised
their mistake and
banned it
#
In 1967 Bunuel
had his greatest-
ever popular
success, with
"Belle de Jour".
Again he
explored beneath
the surface of
respectable
society, telling
the story of a
happily-married
bourgeois
housewife who
spends her
afternoons
working in a
brothel
#
In 1973 Bunuel
won the Oscar for
the best foreign
film for "The
Discreet Charm of
the Bourgeoisie",
in which his old
hatreds - the
rituals of class,
the hypocrisy and
the shallow
veneer of polite
society - are all
examined
mercilessly
#
Bunuel continued making films almost until the end of his life. "The Phantom of Liberty" (1974) was another attack on bourgeois hypocrisy, "That Obscure Object of Desire" (1977) a modern piece of surrealism in which the leading character is played by two different actresses
