Henri Cartier-Bresson

Born into a wealthy textile manufacturing family in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France, Henri Cartier-Bresson initially pursued painting, studying with Cubist painter André Lhote and society portraitist Jacques Émile Blanche. His early artistic training, though not directly in photography, instilled in him a rigorous understanding of composition and form. He socialized with Surrealists in Paris, drawn to their exploration of the subconscious and the immediate, an influence that woul…