Aude Raimbault, Collections Manager at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, held a tour of the building and its collection. The students were presented to the archives as well as the Foundation’s summer 2022 show, L’Expérience du Paysage, by Henri Cartier-Bresson,
Introducing the Foundation and its Archives
The Foundation was created by Henri Cartier-Bresson, his wife and fellow Magnum member, Martine Franck, and their daughter Mélanie, in 2003. The intention is to conserve and preserve the two photographic collections and to guarantee the independence of their work and to show it to the public. Through books and exhibitions, the ‘treasures’ of the collection are presented, alongside the work of artists whose values were sympathetic to the founders’, serving the broader aim to promote photography and, notably, encourage new work and evaluation through prizes and conferences.
The participants had the opportunity to learn more about the photographic collection, and how it was constituted, preserved and promoted since the creation of the Foundation, with an introduction by Raimbault and a visit to the physical holdings of negatives, prints and books.
There was also an opportunity to rediscover the links that bind Magnum Photos (one of whose founders was Cartier Bresson) and the Foundation, from the classification system to the ongoing links between the two institutions to promote and license work from the collection.
L’expérience du Paysage, Henri Cartier-Bresson
The visit concluded with a tour of the exhibition that was then on view at the Foundation: Henri Cartier-Bresson, l’Expérience du Paysage, showcasing work captured between the 1930s and the 1990s in Europe, Asia and America. The show was complemented by a selection of Cartier-Bresson’s drawings from the collections of the Foundation.