The Modern Century

French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson traveled the world capturing historic and personal moments in time. As described by curator Peter Galassi in his catalog notes, Cartier-Bresson “helped to define photographic modernism, using a handheld camera to snatch beguiling images from fleeting moments of everyday life.” Made in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art, this online exhibition presents 300 of Cartier-Bresson’s finest photographs and traces his journeys across seven beautifully detailed maps.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a master at capturing a complete story with concise visual language. With his signature Leica handheld camera, he pushed the boundaries of technology. This site mimics his methodology and presents the artwork with as few moving parts as possible. Designed for flexibility and performance, the site resizes automatically to whatever browser size window the visitor is using. Divided between twelve themes, Cartier-Bresson’s portfolio can be experienced in digestible slideshows that display the photographs front and center. Alternatively, his portfolio can be interpreted by way of maps that chart his journeys. Custom-made for this exhibition, the maps exhaustively chronicle over 40 years of Cartier-Bresson’s travel itineraries. To exhibit the maps, Second Story took advantage of new zooming technology to provide visitors an opportunity to absorb all the fine details.