Lecture
Surrealist Photography
Saturday, February 13, 2027Lecture by Laurent Genest
Henri Cartier-Bresson did not truly begin taking photographs until 1930. Before then, he devoted himself to painting. From 1926 to 1928, he attended the classes of the painter and theorist André Lhote, from whom he acquired a highly rigorous approach to composition. During these years, he also associated with the Surrealists, through whom he became aware of the suggestive power of chance. The few paintings by Cartier-Bresson that have survived reveal the combination of Lhote’s influence with that of André Breton’s circle, for whom photography was an exceptionally fertile field of exploration. We will discover this parallel universe through works by Man Ray, Boiffard, and Max Ernst. An exploration of Surrealist cinema—particularly Buñuel, whom Cartier-Bresson unsuccessfully attempted to meet—will also remind us that Henri Cartier-Bresson once considered abandoning photography for cinema.
About the speaker
Laurent Genest
National lecturer and art historian. After studying art history and archaeology at the École du Louvre and Paris I–Sorbonne University, where he taught for several years, he initially pursued research into our contemporary relationship with works of art in general, and with reproductions of artworks in particular. He was also one of the founding members of the Critical Observatory of Digital Resources in Art History and Archaeology at the University of the Sorbonne, now hosted on the CNRS website (https://observatoirecritique.hypotheses.org/). He regularly organizes cultural trips to showcase France’s and other countries’ rich heritage, as well as museum visits. He is a member of ICOM (the International Council of Museums) and a corresponding member of the Académie d’Aix-en-Provence. He has published articles on the virtual museum in specialist journals, as well as a book on Istanbul’s Pera-Galata district (Promenade aux Champs-Elysées d’Orient, 2014). He also designs and leads public-speaking courses—in connection with art—for business schools and other organizations.