{"id":136759,"date":"2020-04-29T12:12:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T11:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/?p=136759"},"modified":"2020-04-29T12:15:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T11:15:44","slug":"henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for having a strongly Euro-centric sensibility and choice of subject matter \u2013 one of his most famous collections is called The Europeans \u2013 he had a great affinity for, and\u00a0experience of, East Asia.<\/p>\n<p>China in particular proved a rich hunting ground for HCB as he hit his prime as a photographer during some of the most tumultuous events in the Middle Kingdom\u2019s\u00a0history, including the civil war and Communist victory. Like many left-leaning European intellectuals of his era, he was drawn to the great Maoist experiment to transform this massive, almost unfathomably historic nation. But disillusionment eventually set in as it became clear how much the population was suffering under Mao\u2019s grandiose schemes.<\/p>\n\t\t<div id=&quot;attachment_136760&quot;  class=\"c-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 601px\">\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-136760 size-large\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-1_377056222_638902991-581x400.jpeg\" alt=\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1948-1949, 1958 | Book\" width=\"581\" height=\"400\" \/>\t\t\t<p class=\"c-caption__text\">Gold Rush. The last days of Kuomintang, Shanghai, 1948<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<p>This monumental new volume from Thames &amp; Hudson includes the greatest images from HCB\u2019s trips to China in 1948-9, and 1958, a period of huge change. I have quite a few books about HCB but haven\u2019t looked at them for a while. Coming to this latest book, I am struck again by his almost supernatural ability when it comes to composition. The iconic Gold Rush in Shanghai (above top), for example, almost seems staged, with the jostling crowd, who are desperately trying to empty their bank accounts before the Communists arrive, carefully choreographed like a still from a movie.<br \/>\nOf course, the shot wasn\u2019t staged at all (the crowd had much bigger worries than keeping some big-nosed foreign devil of a photographer happy). Then there are the less dramatic, but still highly poetic, shots of the denizens of old Beijing, a world with roots in the Qing dynasty which was about to disappear forever.<\/p>\n\t\t<div id=&quot;attachment_136761&quot;  class=\"c-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 286px\">\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-136761\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-2_377056231_638902991-266x400.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"266\" height=\"400\" \/>\t\t\t<p class=\"c-caption__text\">A local who escorts brides in a sedan chair, Beijing, 1948<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<p>Moving into the 1950s we get more shots of happy factory workers and young pioneers, which seem naively optimistic knowing what we now know about the subsequent mayhem of the Cultural Revolution, but again, you can\u2019t fault HCB\u2019s photographic technique and compositional genius. Accompanying the images is a highly authoritative text, co-authored by Taiwanese curator Ying Lung-su to give a wider cultural perspective. This book is required reading for fans of HCB or anyone interested in the history of China \u2013 now a global superpower for better or worse.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-136763\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/hcb-china-book-cover_377056251_638902991-135x100.jpeg\" alt=\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1948-1949, 1958 | Book\" width=\"135\" height=\"100\" \/>Henri Cartier-Bresson: China 1948-1949, 1958<\/h2>\n<p>Thames &amp; Hudson, 288 pages, 978-0500545188, \u00a350 \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for having a strongly Euro-centric sensibility and choice of subject matter \u2013 one of his most famous collections is called The Europeans \u2013 he had a great affinity for, and\u00a0experience of, East Asia. China in particular proved a rich hunting ground for HCB as he hit his prime as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2716,"featured_media":136762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,663],"tags":[],"product-category":[],"class_list":["post-136759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photo-news","category-book_reviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review - Amateur Photographer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for having a strongly Euro-centric sensibility and choice of subject matter \u2013 one of his most famous collections is called The Europeans \u2013 he had a great affinity for, and\u00a0experience of, East Asia. China in particular proved a rich hunting ground for HCB as he hit his prime as a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amateur Photographer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\"},\"wordCount\":412,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Latest news\",\"Photography books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\",\"name\":\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review - Amateur Photographer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1724,\"caption\":\"Celebrations for the ninth anniversary of the People\u2019s Republic, Beijing, 1 October 1958\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Photography books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\",\"name\":\"Amateur Photographer\",\"description\":\"The world&#039;s number 1 weekly photo magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review - Amateur Photographer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review","og_description":"While Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for having a strongly Euro-centric sensibility and choice of subject matter \u2013 one of his most famous collections is called The Europeans \u2013 he had a great affinity for, and\u00a0experience of, East Asia. China in particular proved a rich hunting ground for HCB as he hit his prime as a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/","og_site_name":"Amateur Photographer","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine","article_published_time":"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1724,"url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_site":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review","datePublished":"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/"},"wordCount":412,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","articleSection":["Latest news","Photography books"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/","name":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review - Amateur Photographer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2020-04-29T11:12:07+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-29T11:15:44+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1724,"caption":"Celebrations for the ninth anniversary of the People\u2019s Republic, Beijing, 1 October 1958"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/henri-cartier-bresson-china-1948-1949-1958-book-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Photography books","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/book_reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Henri Cartier-Bresson, China 1948-1949, 1958 | Book Review"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/","name":"Amateur Photographer","description":"The world&#039;s number 1 weekly photo magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/"}]}},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/04\/gold-rush-hcb-3_377056241_638902991-scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 09:42:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2716"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136766,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136759\/revisions\/136766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136759"},{"taxonomy":"product-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-category?post=136759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}