Henri Cartier-Bresson

initialed in pencil and signed, titled, dated, and inscribed 'Tiré a Mexico par l'auteur rue Equador dans la Merced' in ink on the reverse, 1934

Millon and Associés/Viviane Esders, Paris, 16 November 1999, Lot 43

Peter Galassi, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work (The Museum of Modern Art, 1987), p. 122

Documentary and Anti-Graphic Photographs: Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans (Göttingen, 2004), p. 124

Agnès Sire and Michel Frizot, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook, Photographs 1932-1946 (London, 2006), pl. 96

Clément Chéroux, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now (Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, 2013), pl. 61

The Julien Levy Collection (New York: The Witkin Gallery, 1977), cover

This slightly warm-toned early print, on double-weight, matte-surface paper that is trimmed to the image, is in generally excellent condition. The edges are rubbed, and there are tiny, barely perceptible losses at the left corners. There is soiling on the reverse. When examined in ultraviolet light, this print does not appear to fluoresce.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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This photograph showcases Cartier-Bresson’s ability to capture the unintentional magic of the everyday in his early work.  Made during a brief stay in Havana in 1934, the image shows a small herd of carousel horses galloping in an urban environment reminiscent of de Chirico.  This image is believed to have been included in the revolutionary Documentary & Anti-Graphic exhibition at the Julian Levy Gallery in 1935. Levy, who had established himself as the leading proponent of Surrealism in New York, was drawn to Cartier-Bresson’s work and staged the photographer’s first exhibition in 1933. 

In Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work, Peter Galassi writes,

'In his small-camera work of the early thirties Cartier-Bresson brought together, with highly original results, two previously separate elements of the Surrealist aesthetic.  One was its sensitivity to the unpredictable psychic force of straight photography. The other was its vision of the street as an arena of adventure and fantasy only thinly disguised by the veneer of daily routine.  The small camera provided the link between the two, by making it possible to record and preserve the most ephemeral Surrealist epiphany’ (p. 34).

The photographer’s notations on the reverse of this print indicate that he made it in Mexico City, where he lived in 1934-1935 with writer Langston Hughes, poet Andrés Henestrosa, and the painter Ignacio Aguirre.   Prints from this early period of Cartier-Bresson’s career are scarce, as his opportunities for their sale or exhibition were few.