Between Art And Photojournalism :An Examination Of Henri Cartier-Bresson's The People Of Moscow

Henri Cartier-Bresson's (French, 1908-2004) career spanned more than fifty years during which he was involved with the surrealist movement, produced work for various picture magazines, helped found Magnum Photos Agency and published numerous photobooks. While his body of work is often discussed in terms of either fine art photography or photojournalism, prior to 1950s these elements tended to be isolated to separate venues. This thesis is concerned with Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1955 book The People of Moscow, a photographic survey of the Soviet people. It considers the significance of this book as a venue that combined the two aspects of Cartier-Bresson's photography, the formal aesthetics and the documentary content and thereby marked a turning point in his career. The essay describes and analyzes the elements of the book's design, such as the layout, sequencing and use of text by comparing them to the earlier Cartier-Bresson monographs, as well as to the use of the photographs from the book in Life and Paris Match.