An auction dedicated to the Iconic Photographer

December, 12th 2017, Phillips will conclude the fall sale season with Henri-Cartier Bresson: The Eye of The Century, Personal Photographs from the collection of Peter Fetterman. The auction is dedicated to the career of the legendary photographer. The auction will offer 120 works from the personal collection of Peter Fetterman, Cartier Bresson’s last dealer, who worked with the artist from 1990 until his death in 2004.

 

Cartier- Bresson one of the founding members of Magnum Photo Agency, was known for capturing moments of beauty within the seemingly ordinary happenings of daily life. His work was intuitive and observational. He started shooting whilst travelling through Europe in 1932, aimlessly walking trying to find inspiration within the drama’s of everyday life.

 

Cartier-Bresson did not plan or arrange his photographs. His practice was to release the shutter at the moment his instincts told him the scene before him was in perfect balance. This he later famously titled “the decisive moment” — a concept that would influence photographers throughout the 20th century and continues to do so.

Peter Fetterman, Collector and Owner of the Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica, said,

 

“Henri Cartier-Bresson was my hero, the man who inadvertently changed my life when I purchased a print of his image Srinagar over 40 years ago. This ‘decisive moment’ set me on a new personal and professional path which continues today. The images in this auction are the culmination of a 40 year journey of collecting his work. These objects have given me great pleasure and a unique understanding of the world and I am happy to pass them onto the next generation.”

 

The images offered at the auction depict landscape’s from artist’s exhaustive travel diary spanning from New York, Kyoto, India to the French countryside. The collection also offers portraits of some of the most influential figures of the 20th Century including Malcolm X, Marilyn Monroe, and Truman Capote; and street photography that captures the everyday lives of his subjects from around the globe.

Some of the highlights are photographs taken of the Russian ballet in the 1950s. Cartier-Bresson was the first Western photographer ever to be granted an access to the ballet and these stunning images have been rarely showcased to the world. From the highly recognizable Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954, and Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1932, to the rare Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, 1954, and Dublin, Ireland, 1952, the Eye of the Century offers the opportunity for both new and existing collectors to discover the world of Cartier-Bresson.

Auction: 12 December 2017

Auction viewing: 5-12 December 2017

Location: 450 Park Avenue, New York