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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Henri Cartier-Bresson: China 1948–1949|1958

June 20 – Nov 1, 2020
No. 181號, Section 3, Zhongshan N Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10461

French photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson believed that every photographer has two sides—“Everyone discovers themselves and also discovers the world.” To him, however, the most important moment was that defining click, when his camera captured the rapidly moving scene and made everything stand still. Cartier-Bresson’s lens led him all over the world. He photographed the Spanish elections, the coronation of George VI, and George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet. He took the last photos of Ghandi, just a few hours before the Mahatma was assassinated. In 1948–49 and 1958, Cartier-Bresson traveled to China, where he documented the evolution of modern Asian history. This rare exhibition features images from those two trips. —E.C.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, “A waiter or shopkeeper sits at the open window of a tavern, while a coolie eats outside under a pergola,” 1948 © Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos.