Photography Auction Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Eye of the Century

On December 12, 2017, Phillips in New York will conclude the fall sale season with Henri Cartier- Bresson: The Eye of the Century, Personal Photographs from the Collection of Peter Fetterman, an auction dedicated to the career of the legendary photographer. The auction will offer 120 works from the personal collection of Peter Fetterman, Cartier-Bresson’s last dealer, who worked with the artist from 1990 until his death in 2004.

The works will be on view in New York from 4-12 December in advance of the auction. Peter Fetterman, Collector and Owner of the Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica, said: “Henri Cartier-Bresson was my hero, the man who inadvertently changed my life when I purchased a print of his image Srinagar over 40 years ago. This ‘decisive moment’ set me on a new personal and professional path which continues today. The images in this auction are the culmination of a 40 year journey of collecting his work. These objects have given me great pleasure and a unique understanding of the world and I am happy to pass them on to the next generation.”

The images in this auction are comprised of landscapes from the artist’s many travels, spanning from New York City to Kyoto, Japan and from India to the French countryside; portraits of some of the most influential figures of the 20th century, including Malcolm X, Marilyn Monroe, and Truman Capote; and street photography that captured the everyday lives of his subjects from around the globe. Among the highlights are photographs taken of the Russian ballet in the 1950s. Cartier-Bresson was in fact the first Western photographer to be granted access here and these stunning images have rarely been seen on the market. From the highly recognizable Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954, and Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1932, to the rare Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, 1954, and Dublin, Ireland, 1952, this sale offers the opportunity for both new and existing collectors to discover the world of Cartier-Bresson.

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