Page 66 - Swann Galleries - Fine Photographs - Sale 2304 - February 26, 2013

46 ● CARTIER-BRESSON, HENRI (1908-2004)
“Trafalgar Square on the day of the Coronation of King GeorgeVI, London.” Silver print,
14x91/2 inches (35.6x24.1 cm.), with Cartier-Bresson’s later signature and inscription on
mount verso. 1937; printed late 1950s [20,000/30,000]
Gifted by Cartier-Bresson to Bill Stanton, in 1972.
The night before King George VI’s coronation ceremony, visitors eager for a view crowded
Trafalgar Square.The following morning Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was commissioned by
the French weekly Regards, photographed the spectators, but did not take any pictures of the
King or his carriage (much to the dismay, apparently, of his employer). Many of them look
up expectantly, as they wait for the new, unanticipated king, crowned in place of his brother,
who had scandalously abdicated. This job was among his first prominent photojournalism
assignments, and Cartier-Bresson already displayed his signature evocative, intuitive approach.
The current owner notes the following, “In 1972 I worked with ‘Hank Carter’—as he
sometimes referred to himself—at Magnum to reprint and organize his entire collection of
negatives and contact prints. It was my task to get everything from the early ’30s up to ’72
reprinted and organized into binders to his satisfaction. I met him a couple of times to show
him how the project was going. Needless to say I took my time going over all those marvelous
images. I was and still am a great admirer of his work.When I finished I was given this print
as a kind of thank you for my leisurely but careful efforts. Helen Wright who was Cartier-
Bresson’s agent in the United States sent the print to him about a year before he died and
asked him to sign it for me.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson:The Man,The Image and TheWorld, 86.