The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation (French: ''Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson''), also known as Fondation HCB, is an art gallery and non-profit organisation in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

that was established to preserve and show the work of

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...

and

Martine Franck Martine Franck (2 April 1938 – 16 August 2012) was a British-Belgian documentary and portrait photographer. She was a member of Magnum Photos for over 32 years. Franck was the second wife of Henri Cartier-Bresson and co-founder and president ...

, and show the work of others. It was set up in 2003 by the photographer and painter Cartier-Bresson, his wife, also a photographer, Franck, and their daughter, Mélanie Cartier-Bresson. The Foundation hosts four solo exhibitions per year by a variety of photographers, painters, sculptors, and illustrators. Agnès Sire is its artistic director and François Hébel its director.

Mission

The Foundation's mission is to preserve the archives of

and

, and show their work and the work of others. It also exists to help researchers and curators to work with those archives.

Exhibitions

The Foundation hosts four solo exhibitions per year by a variety of photographers, painters, sculptors, and illustrators. The inaugural exhibition at the Rue des Archives venue, in November 2018, was ''Martine Franck – A Retrospective,'' which then toured to

Musée de l'Élysée Musée de l'Élysée is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, entirely devoted to photography. It is a government-supported institution founded in 1985 by Charles-Henri Favrod. It was housed in an 18th-century mansion until October 2020.

in Switzerland, and

Fotomuseum Antwerp Fotomuseum Antwerp, also known as FOMU, is a museum of photography in Antwerp, Belgium. History and programme The museum opened in 1986. The Fotomuseum in Antwerp has a historical and contemporary collection of photography that is given a new p ...

in Belgium.

History

The Foundation was set up by Cartier-Bresson, Franck and Mélanie Cartier-Bresson. Cartier-Bresson gave his personal collection of his photographs to the Foundation. It opened in 2003 in a renovated 19th-century building at 2 Impasse Lebouis in the Montparnasse district of Paris. Between 2003 and 2018 it had 100,000 visitors a year. Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris January 2011 01

Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris January 2011 01

In November 2018 it moved to 79 Rue des Archives, in the Marais district of Paris; a tall, narrow

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...

in a 1913 building. The new building has significantly more exhibition and archive space than the previous, allowing for four exhibitions a year instead of three.

Organisation

The non-profit Foundation is privately funded. A proportion of funds come from an endowment left by Franck, who died in 2012. From 2003 Agnès Sire was its director. In November 2017 Sire became artistic director and François Hébel was appointed as director.

HCB Award

The Foundation issues the HCB Award.

Winners

*2021:

Carolyn Drake Carolyn Drake (born 1971) is an American photographer based in Vallejo, California. She works on long term photo-based projects seeking to interrogate dominant historical narratives and imagine alternatives to them. Her work explores community an ...

for the project ''Centaur'' (working title)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Photo archives in France Photography museums and galleries in France 2003 establishments in France Art galleries established in 2003 Tourist attractions in Paris Art museums and galleries in Paris Biographical museums in France

Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...