Between 1932 and 1934, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Paul Strand visited Mexico, and their photographs there allow us
to compare these two masters of photography as never before. In the autumn of 1932, Strand departed for Mexico by
car at the invitation of the Mexican Minister of Education. There he exhibited his work and began his film Redes in 1934.
At the same time Cartier-Bresson had agreed to undertake a French ethnographic mission from Mexico to Argentina.
When he arrived in Mexico the project had been cancelled, but he remained for a year, exhibiting his work in the Palacio
de Bellas Artes with Manuel Álvarez Bravo. Cartier-Bresson and Strand then met in New York in 1935 where they
joined a group of filmmakers committed to Nykino, to explore new filmic experiences. Mexico 1932–1934 reveals the
intriguing similarities and differences between Cartier-Bresson and Strand’s social-documentary approaches.
Paul Strand (1890–1976) was introduced to photography in 1904 by Lewis Hine, then Strand’s teacher at the Ethical
Culture School in New York. Through Hine, Strand met Alfred Stieglitz who championed his work by publishing it in
Camera Work and exhibiting it in his gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue. Numerous exhibitions have since showcased Strand’s
work, including a 1945 solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a retrospective at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art in 1971.
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) began taking photographs in 1931, and photographed in Eastern Europe and
Mexico before making films including a documentary on Republican Spain in 1937. In 1945 he photographed the liberation
of Paris, and in 1947 co-founded Magnum Photos. Best known for his concept of the “decisive moment” in
photography, Cartier-Bresson received many accolades including the Overseas Press Club of America Award (1948,
1954, 1960, 1964) and the Prix de la Société Française de Photographie (1959).
Mexico
1932-1934
von Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand
