The Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson has found a few seconds of unreleased footage of Henri Cartier-Bresson photographing the streets of New York!

All his life, Henri Cartier-Bresson repeatedly expressed his refusal to be filmed or photographed at work. Because of this reluctance, only two films in which he could be seen photographing were known until now.

Last month, the Fondation made a remarkable discovery : the Fondation has been able to find a few unedited seconds of Morris Engel’s film Weddings and Babies, which was shot at the end of the 50s, in which Henri Cartier-Bresson can be spotted using his camera capturing a snapshot of the hustle and bustle of a New York street.

Thanks to the invaluable help of Mary Engel and the Ruth Orkin and Morris Engel Film and Photo Archive, the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson was able to get its hands on scraps of film, to digitize and reassemble them in order to bring back to life these few seconds of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s presence on the set of his friend Morris Engel’s 1957 film.

Digitization and editing: Pierre Leyrat
Archival research: Aude Raimbault and Léa Thouin