Foto Arsenal / Henri Cartier-Bresson - Watch!Watch!Watch!

Photo Arsenal / Henri Cartier-Bresson-Watch! Watch! Watch!

A man jumps over a large puddle to keep dry feet, the hoe almost touches the surface - a tiny moment later, the composition in the mirrored water surface would be gone. The crucial moment - this is all decisive in photography. It is a synthesis of knowledge, sensitivity, technology, shape, chance and pure intuition. When all of these elements meet, such strong, unique images that go beyond everyday life and reveal something from the nature of life. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is one of the founders of modern photojournalism and is one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century.

1947 He became co-founder of the Magnum agency and, with his narrative photography, shapes the following generations of photographers. On the streets he becomes a player with the camera and establishes the genre of Street Photography , the interpersonal behavior in everyday life, at work and in leisure time. Cartier-Bresson thus becomes the inventor of observation and analysis of human action in spontaneous moments and, with the help of his camera, shows how behavior patterns in fleeting scenes that would otherwise have been tumbled on the streets. (1949) or life in divided Berlin (1962). In 1954 he was the first western photographer to document life in the Soviet Union after Stalin's death.


In addition to political issues, Cartier-Bresson also portrays numerous artists, including Coco Chanel and Henri Matisse. Characterized by the sharp view for the essentials and the ability to photograph the "decisive moment", his street photography offers humanistic access.

The title Watch! Watch! Watch! reflects questions of perception that are only possible through the camera and with photography: it is the possibility to capture a tiny moment. With the extensive retrospective, the life's work of the photographer from the 1930s to the 1970s is highlighted with the extensive retrospective as well as numerous publications in illustrated and books. In addition to well-known, iconic images, the exhibition shows early, surrealistic recordings as well as photo reports, portraits and films.


Photo Arsenal Vienna shows the first retrospective from the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in cooperation with the Bucerius Art Forum in Hamburg and the Fundación Mapfre in Barcelona Cartier-Bresson in Austria for decades.